William J. Grede (pronounced “Grady”), industrialist and political conservative, was born in Milwaukee on February 24, 1897, the son of Henry L. and Fanny G. (Kunkel) Grede. He attended Milwaukee public schools, graduated from South Division High School, and was a student at the University of Wisconsin from 1915 to 1917. He left the university in the fall of 1917 to work at Wagner Castings Company, a foundry in Decatur, Illinois. The next year, after officer's training school, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army Infantry. Shortly after the World War I armistice he returned to his work in Decatur and in 1919 married Margaret Weiss of Milwaukee. They had two daughters, Janet (Mrs. Burleigh E. Jacobs) and Betty (Mrs. Walter S. Davis).
In 1920, Grede purchased and operated the Liberty Foundry in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The business was incorporated in 1923. Grede and his associates acquired controlling interest in the Spring City Foundry of Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1927. The next year Grede's brother Arthur associated with him, and the two men took over the management of the Milwaukee Steel Foundry. In 1931 and 1940 the three companies were merged to form Grede Foundries, Incorporated. William J. Grede continued as president of this corporation, which eventually included seven foundries--four in Wisconsin, one in Michigan, and two in Kansas. In 1960 he relinquished the presidency to his son-in-law, Burleigh E. Jacobs, and became chairman of the board of directors. In 1967 the Elkhart, Indiana, plant was discontinued and in 1966, Midwest Foundry in Wichita, Kansas, was purchased. In 1976, Hartmann Manufacturing Company of Hutchinson, Kansas, became part of the group.
Throughout his business career, Grede was strongly opposed to unionization efforts by his employees, but always strived for close relationships with them; even before unionization was introduced he had a history of improving company benefits, having instituted a program of group life insurance in 1924, paid vacations in 1926, and accident and health insurance in 1927. A company pension plan was installed in 1947, followed shortly thereafter by a profit-sharing plan for the supervisory and administrative employees.
Grede's association with the J.I. Case Company, manufacturer of heavy farm and industrial equipment, began in 1953 when he became a director of the company. Three years later he was elected as the first chairman of a newly organized executive committee. In February 1960 he was elected president of the company and chairman of the board.
A man of deep convictions, Grede is an outspoken defender of the competitive free enterprise system, individual freedom, and traditional American values, which he has tried to preserve through his activities as corporate executive, as president (1951-1953) of the National Association of Manufacturers, and as a co-founder of the John Birch Society (1958). This philosophy of individual dignity and freedom was also expressed through his close affiliation with the YMCA, where he served on local, regional, and national boards and as national president from 1952 to 1954. With a keen interest in world YMCA work, he led drives from 1958 to 1965 in the United States and Canada that raised six million of an eighteen million dollar total for the construction or renovation of YMCA buildings around the globe. Through his speeches, he expounded his philosophies to YMCA audiences, manufacturing organizations, and academic groups throughout South America, Europe, Africa, and the Orient.
In 1950, in order to keep the last conservative press in the area in operation, Grede and his brother Arthur purchased a firm which published small town weekly newspapers in Wauwatosa, Brookfield, and Elm Grove. Grede's other activities included a directorship of Thomas Industries, Inc., of Louisville, Kentucky (46 years). He also served for 15 years (1953-1968) as a member of the trustees of Carroll College in Waukesha and as a Class B Director of the 7th Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (1947-1961).
Mr. Grede was the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Gold Medal for Good Citizenship from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1953. Grede was the first Wisconsin resident to receive this award. At this writing [1980], he continues to be a concerned and active defender of the political right.
