Frank N. Graass, Wisconsin state assemblyman and conservationist, was born in 1885 at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. After graduating from Sturgeon Bay High School in 1905, he was employed as bookkeeper by the Kalmbach and Booth Fisheries. Three years later he began the business of collecting tree seeds, and later claimed the distinction of being America's largest exporter of tree seeds, with extraction plants at Crivitz and Sturgeon Bay, and at Roscommon, Michigan. In 1914 he purchased an orchard, and developed a fruit growing business in Door County, specializing in apples and cherries. In addition to being active in the Fruit Growers' Association, a member of the Door County Chamber of Commerce, and a promoter of the area's interests, he became an active leader in the Izaak Walton League.
Mr. Graass was first elected to the state assembly in 1916, as a Republican, and served in the legislature intermittently until his retirement in 1961--a total of eleven sessions with that body. He was a member of several important committees; he was a strong friend of conservation and author of laws affecting natural resources in the state, being particularly well-versed in the problems of Great Lakes fisheries; and he became an authority on financial matters. He was a member of the Council of State Governments board of managers and the Great Lakes Area Council, and was chairman of the Great Lakes Fisheries Committee.
In 1939, Assemblyman Graass drafted the third attempt of the state Finance Committee to present an acceptable budget, and it was the ammended budget that he wrote that was eventually signed by Governor Heil. During the administration of Walter Goodland, he served as the governor's chief assistant, 1941-1945, advising on the state's legislative and financial matters. He was called by some the most powerful politician in the state at that time.
Frank Graass was married to Helen Webb in November of 1919. His brother was Circuit Judge Henry Graass. At the time of this writing, December, 1968, he is still living in Sturgeon Bay.
