Harry G. John

Harry G. John, Jr. (1919-1992) was an American philanthropist and heir to the Miller Brewing Company fortune through his grandfather, Frederick Miller.

Early years

John was born in 1919 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His mother, Elise John, was one of two daughters of brewery founder Frederick Miller. John graduated from the University of Notre Dame (B.A. 1941), and was president of Miller Brewery from 1946 to 1947. He married Erica Nowotny in 1956; the couple had nine children.

As a young man, he quietly funded such varied projects as leprosariums in India and camps for Milwaukee inner-city blacks. His money dug wells in drought-stricken West Africa and provided seminary training in the Philippines. All donations were given anonymously.

De Rance Foundation

In the early 1950s, John, a devout Catholic, utilized his inheritance - Miller stock valued at $14 million - to found the De Rance Foundation, which he named after Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rance, the 17th-century abbot of the monastery at La Trappe, France. In 1972, Phillip Morris bought Miller Brewing, resulting in the value of John's stock soaring to $97 million overnight. The De Rance Foundation thus became the world's largest Catholic charity.

"We always lived in working-class neighborhoods. My dad insisted on that, and that we live simply," Tim John, the second eldest child said. At Christmas, each gift was bought in duplicate. One went to its intended recipient in the family; the other to a needy family. On Saturdays, Harry and Erica would drive the children to the inner city, scoop up entire families, take them out to dinner and buy shoes for all the children. If a poor family's furnace was broken, Harry would have it fixed. If the oil tank was low, when Harry John left, it was filled. He even had open charge accounts at major department stores in Milwaukee for priests who purchased clothing and needed items for the inner city poor. Seminarians from Africa and South America thanked Harry John for making their education possible. Residents of villages to which his money had brought water wrote to say he had saved their lives. Millions of dollars of the John money fanned across many continents to the poorest of the poor. All the while, John refused any recognition for his donations.

Lawsuit

In 1984, Erica John and Donald Gallagher, both De Rance directors, became alarmed at Harry John's increasingly extravagant expenditure of De Rance assets on such things as entire television stations (for which John envisioned a 24-hour-a-day Catholic broadcast network), treasure hunts for sunken ships, and risky investments in gold futures and junk bonds. Mrs. John and Gallagher filed a lawsuit along with attorney Tom Cannon in Milwaukee County Circuit Court to have Harry John removed as a De Rance director. After a five-month trial, on August 21, 1986, Judge Michael Barron announced that the plaintiffs had proven their allegations. Harry John was permanently removed from the De Rance board; he divorced Erica, and moved to California where he resided for the next six years, returning to Milwaukee in 1992.

Death

On December 14, 1992, John was found unconscious on the floor of his apartment by a neighbor. He was rushed to Elmbrook Memorial Hospital in Brookfield, Wisconsin, where he was found to have suffered a massive stroke. Upon hearing of John's condition, the John children were summoned, including one from Miami and another who was camping in California and was thus unreachable for days. Tom Cannon called an emergency meeting of the De Rance board, which voted to dissolve the De Rance Foundation after awarding $30 million in grants to some of John's favorite causes. The remaining $70 million was used to create a new charitable organization, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Supporting Fund. (During the court proceedings, Cannon, addressing John's own wild spending, asked John directly whether De Rance could spend itself out of existence. Harry answered: "I think the directors could give away 100 percent of the foundation with complete propriety.")

During five days in intensive care, his family played his favorite Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart softly, and sang Christmas carols. Each child spoke to him of their love. Through his coma, he would squeeze their hands and occasionally emit a raspy sound. John died on December 19, 1992, with Erica by his side. In addition to his former wife, he was survived by his loving children Emily, Timothy, Paula, Henry, Bruno, Gregory, Michael, Elise, and Jessica and six grandchildren.

Southern Cross

In 1985, John prepared a legal document that would authorize the transfer of De Rance's assets to another organization he had created, Southern Cross, Inc., upon his death. In 1993, Southern Cross filed suit in Milwaukee, challenging the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Supporting Fund's receipt of the bulk of John's fortune after his death the previous year. In particular, they alleged that John was kept alive artificially until his family could dispose of De Rance's assets. "The suit is frivolous," said Cannon, "and is a last minute effort by John's cronies to wrest control of the assets." On November 15, 1993, the suit was dismissed by Circuit Court Russell J. Stamper.

Sources

* "National Catholic Reporter", Vol. 29, No. 40: September 17, 1993.
* "The Milwaukee Journal", 12/20/92, 11/15/93.
* http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-13286023.html
* "John v. John", 153 Wis.2d 343, 450 N.W.2nd 795 (Ct.App. 1989)