Wilfred A. Kraegel was born in Lansing, Illinois on January 10, 1924. He received a B.A. in
Math, with highest honors, from the University of Illinois in 1947, and an M.S. in Actuarial
Mathematics from the University of Iowa in 1948. In 1987, he received his Ph.D. in Urban
Social Institutions from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Kraegel worked for
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, throughout his entire
36-year professional career. He began as an Actuarial Student in September of 1948, became
an Actuarial Assistant in July of 1953, and an Assistant Actuary in 1956. In 1961, he became
a Manager of Data Processing and was promoted to Director of Data Processing in 1968. In
1970, Kraegel became an Associate Actuary, a position he held until his retirement in
1984.
Kraegel was involved in numerous personal-interest and professional organizations and
published several articles. He was a founding member of the World Future Society-Milwaukee
Chapter and became interested in community goals projects in 1975, after attending an
international conference of the World Future Society. In 1978 Kraegel brought together a
small group of people interested in establishing a Goals project for Milwaukee. By 1980,
their initiative led to Goals for Greater Milwaukee 2000. In 1983, after the final reports
from the Goals task forces were presented, and hundreds of potential goals were proposed,
Action for Goals 2000 was organized to serve as a facilitating mechanism to support groups
implementing those goals. Kraegel was also involved in Action for Goals 2000 and its
planning group.
Wilfred Kraegel's doctoral dissertation, Community Goals
Projects, provides extensive details about Goals for Greater Milwaukee 2000,
Action for Goals 2000 and other community goals projects. It is located in the UWM
Libraries' general stacks.
