Biography/History

Stern was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 8, 1879, son of Charles Gabriel and Alma (Cramer) Stern and grandson of Henry Stern, a native of Germany. His father was a businessman. Erich C. Stern received his preliminary education at public schools and the University School in Milwaukee and graduated with an A.B. in 1901 and LL.B. in 1904 at Harvard University and Ph.D. in 1905 at the University of Paris, France. Admitted to the Wisconsin bar in the latter year, he entered general practice in Milwaukee, and for some years until the close of his life was a member of the law firm of Stern, Croen 8 Bodner. Stern was particularly involved in trust and probate law. His firm's clients included the Summit Mineral Co., for which Stern served at one time as president. In addition to his practice, he was a professor of law at Marquette University during 1915-1920. Stern also held public office, serving as a member of the Common Council of Milwaukee during 1908-1910 and a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly during 1910-1912. While in the assembly, he was a member of the committee on cities and helped to introduce legislation for autonomy for cities. He also participated in the drafting of the state income tax law, was floor leader, and sponsored election laws and civil service reform. Stern participated in civic and cultural activities, serving as treasurer of the Milwaukee Orchestral Association and trustee of the Milwaukee Civic Music Association and Milwaukee Art Institute for many years. He also donated many works of art to the institute and the University of Wisconsin, including a set of original Piranesi engravings to the latter. He was instrumental in bringing to Wisconsin many avant-garde art shows. Interested in the Indians of the Southwest, he made many trips to New Mexico and Arizona. In 1926 he was elected a member of the Navajo tribe so that he could help record chants and songs of a medicine man for the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. For some years he was president of the Milwaukee Central Council of Social Agencies, predecessor of the United Fund, and of the Milwaukee Citizens' Bureau for Municipal Efficiency. For many years he was a member of the Wisconsin University Settlement Club, and he helped to establish the first camp in connection with the university's settlement house, a camp located at Lake Beulah, near East Troy, Wisconsin. Stern was a member of the American, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee County bar associations and the City Club of Milwaukee. In politics he was a Republican. In his early years he was a figure skater, a skier, and a hiker. He was interested semi-professionally in music throughout his life and was also a translator of manuscripts from German and French. For recreation he enjoyed bridge and travel. He was married in Milwaukee, March 8, 1930, to Lucia Martha, daughter of John Karker of that city, a merchandiser. Erich C. Stern died without issue in Milwaukee, February 18, 1969.

Note

Biographical sketch from The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (Clifton, New Jersey, 1973), v. 54, p. 434. Stern's work with the University Settlement Club is mentioned in Ruth Harman and Charlotte Lekachman, "The Jacobs House," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 16, No. 3 (March 1933), pp. 252-284. The work of Stern's grandfather, Henry Stern (1825-1903), is described in Henry Stern, "The Life Story of a Milwaukee Merchant," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 9, No. 1 (September 1925), pp. 63-79.