Martin James Schreiber was born in Milwaukee on April 8, 1939, the son of Martin E. and Emeline Schreiber. The elder Schreiber had an active and prominent interest in politics, serving 32 years as alderman from Milwaukee's Seventh Ward and 12 years as president of the Milwaukee Common Council. In 1944 he was elected to one term as a Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly.
A devout Lutheran, Martin Schreiber attended parochial elementary and secondary schools of the Luther Church-Missouri Synod, and for a time he considered becoming a minister. After studying at Valparaiso University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Schreiber received his law degree from Marquette University in 1964. He also pursued graduate study at the UW-Milwaukee.
Schreiber was elected to the State Senate in 1962 at age 23 and reelected in 1964 and 1968. He served as Senate Democratic Caucus chair from 1967 to 1969. In 1966 Schreiber was an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor. In 1970, he was selected to run again on a ticket with Patrick J. Lucey, and this time the ticket was successful. In 1974 the Lucey-Schreiber ticket was reelected.
Schreiber was remarkably well prepared to assume the office of acting governor, because unlike former lieutenant governors whose duties were chiefly ceremonial and part-time, Schreiber exercised broad responsibilities for problems of the elderly and consumer affairs. His office created and managed the nursing home ombudsman program and the Governor's Council on Consumer Affairs, and he also headed the Wisconsin Bicentennial Commission.
On July 1, 1977, Lucey resigned to become ambassador to Mexico. Because the Wisconsin Constitution does not provide for the lieutenant governor to assume the title of governor although granting all of the powers of the office, Schreiber was officially known as the Acting Governor. Among his accomplishments as governor are implementation of the Wisconsin Fund to help local governments clean up sewage treatment systems, strengthening of the nursing home enforcement laws, court reform, campaign finance reform, and tax relief and the creation of the Blue Ribbon Tax Reform Commission. Schreiber was unsuccessful in his attempt to win a full four-year term, losing the general election to Lee S. Dreyfus. The 1978 election virtually ended Schreiber's public career, although he did attempt a second campaign in 1982 and in 1987 he expressed interest in becoming mayor of Milwaukee. After leaving office Schreiber was publisher of PCA Farming Magazine and a lobbyist.
Schreiber and his wife Elaine are the parents of four children.
