Frederick Nelson MacMillin was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 21, 1899. After volunteering in the Navy during World War I and graduating from Columbia University, he came to Wisconsin and received a Master's in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
After brief employment in the research bureau of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (1922-1924), and then as the municipal reference librarian for the city of Milwaukee (1924-1929), MacMillin became executive secretary for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities (LWM). When MacMillin first took on the job in 1929, the LWM was a small organization.
Under the leadership of MacMillin, the LWM became an effective voice of Wisconsin cities and villages with a membership that included most incorporated municipalities. He expanded its activities to include training courses for municipal officials, model ordinances, a monthly magazine, special studies on current municipal problems, an advisory legal service, and a central operating bureau providing assistance to municipal jurisdictions in making choices as to courses of action. MacMillin served as editor of the league's magazine, The Municipality, from 1927-1955 and also represented the LWM as a lobbyist before the state legislature helping to modernize and streamline Wisconsin's municipal law.
MacMillin served as president of the American Municipal Association, since renamed the National League of Cities, from 1934-1935. He also contributed many articles to publications in the field of municipal government and public management, and addressed various organizations in these fields. During World War II (1943-1945), MacMillin was a lecturer in the political science department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
When, in 1943, the federal Social Security system provided for retirement benefits for personnel in the private sector but excluded public employees, MacMillin formulated and was responsible for the enactment of the Wisconsin Retirement Fund (WRF), the basic retirement plan for public personnel in Wisconsin. Originally, MacMillin organized the fund only for city and village employees, but two years later, he expanded the system to include county employees. Later a legislative interim committee found the WRF to be the best retirement system operating in Wisconsin. As a result, the state government abolished the state employees system and merged it with WRF. Eventually the teachers retirement system merged with WRF creating one statewide system for public employees, outside the City of Milwaukee.
As the WRF grew MacMillin found his responsibilities growing. In 1955, MacMillin stepped down as executive secretary of the LWM and devoted his full attention to the WRF. During this period, MacMillin also took on responsibility for the administration of the group health and life insurance for public employees.
In 1951, the Governor appointed MacMillin to the first Wisconsin Investment Board, which he served on until after his retirement in 1965. There he played an important role in solving budgetary and administrative problems for the state. From 1947 to 1955, MacMillin was also a member of the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems and in 1955, the governor appointed him a member of the Retirement Research Council. For both of these organizations MacMillin played an important part in formulating reports to the legislature on pending retirement legislation.
MacMillin wrote the original constitutions both of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators and of the National Conference of State Social Security Administrators (1961-1962), and served in many offices of these organizations. As chair of the committee on retirement of the American Municipal Association, MacMillin was influential in extending social security coverage to public personnel nationwide.
In his retirement (1966-1988), MacMillin remained active. He read and wrote a great deal on current events and maintained an active and lively correspondence with many politically minded people. MacMillin was also able to travel extensively and pursue his favorite hobbies of bird watching and gardening. Frederick MacMillin died on December 8, 1988, in his home in Madison, Wisconsin.
