Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 2 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 18

John Huegin Puelicher, president of the Marshall & Ilsley Bank of Milwaukee, has also been most prominently and actively identified with those organizations which are looking to the improvement of banking conditions for the purpose of rendering greater efficiency in service to the public, as well as the upbuilding of the entire banking system of the country. He has been an executive officer in many such organizations and is today chairman of the trade acceptance committee of the Wisconsin Bankers Association and second vice president of the American Bankers Association. So comprehensive has been his study of financial problems and so broad his experience in the field of banking that his opinions are largely accepted as authority upon the questions relative to many phases of the banking business. His record is an interesting one to his fellow townsmen, not only by reason of what he has accomplished but also owing to the fact that he is a native son of Milwaukee, his birth having occurred December 26, 1869. His father, John Puelicher, was a tanner by trade and came to America in 1848 with his father, Peter Puelicher, who took part in the German Revolution in 1848, and who crossed the Atlantic from Muenster, Maifeldt, Coblenz, Germany, and settled at Newburgh, New York. John Puelicher was married to Miss Mary Huegin, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born January 29, 1848. She was educated in Milwaukee. Her father, Peter Huegin, came from Basel, Switzerland.

It was in the public schools of Milwaukee that John H. Puelicher obtained his education and he started out in the business world as assistant in a carpet store, while subsequently he was employed as a clerk in a shoe store and later became entry clerk in a wholesale millinery house. In 1885 he entered the employ of the Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Company Bank, thus initiating the banking experience that has brought him step by step to a point of leadership in financial circles not only of his city and state but of the country as well. His identification with the Marshall & Ilsley Bank dates from 1893, when he became discount clerk. Thoroughness has ever characterized him in all the relations of life and this quality, combined with his ready adaptability, enabled him to work his way steadily upward. In 1905 he was made assistant cashier of the bank and the following year was promoted to the cashiership. In 1914 the duties of vice president were added to those of cashier and in 1920 he was elected to the presidency of the institution. He has long been an active directing force in the bank, largely shaping its policy and contributing to its growth by reason of his farsighted vision, his comprehensive study of business conditions and the care with which he has safeguarded the interests of depositors. While efficiently performing the services that have devolved upon him in his various official connections with the Marshall & Ilsley Bank, he has also recognized the needs and the opportunities for organized effort in behalf of banking, bringing about a uniformity in system and method and at the same time seeking a solution for all the complex and intricate problems that arise in connection with the business. This understanding on the part of Mr. Puelicher led in 1902 to the founding of the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Institute of Banking, of which he was the vice president in 1902, and president the following year. In 1905 he became secretary of the Wisconsin Bankers Association, occupying the position until 1908, and in the latter year he was elected to the vice presidency and made first chairman of the executive council of the American Institute of Banking, as well as its first representative on the executive council of the American Bankers Association. In 1916-17 Mr. Puelicher was one of the organizers and the first president of the State Bank Section of the American Bankers Association and from 1917 until 1920 was chairman of the Federal Reserve Campaign Committee of the American Bankers Association, while in 1919 he served as vice president of the Milwaukee Clearing House Association. In the following year he was made chairman of the trade acceptance committee and a member of the agricultural committee of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. The same year he became a member of the special railroad committee of the American Bankers Association, was elected the second vice president of the American Bankers Association and made chairman of its educational committee. It was also in 1920 that he became a member of the Clearing House committee of the Milwaukee Clearing House Association.

On the 29th of August, 1892, in Milwaukee, Mr. Puelicher was married to Miss Matilda Siefert, a daughter of H. O. Siefert, and their children are: Gertrude, Albert, Elsa and Dorothy. The son married Almira Asmus Mr. Puelicher is well known in club circles, having membership in the Milwaukee Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Robert Morris Club, the American Philatelic Society, the City Club of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Association of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce and the Milwaukee Art Institute. These membership relations indicate most clearly the nature of his interests, his active support of projects for the public welfare and the high ideals which govern him in his personal relations. Outside of the field of banking he has rendered much valuable public service, having from 1907 until 1911 been a member of the Milwaukee school board and its president during the last year. In 1907 he also became president of the. Greater Milwaukee Association and in 1910 was elected to the presidency of the Association for Public Play and Social Education. In the same year he was made a trustee of the Milwaukee Public Library and a trustee of the Milwaukee Public Museum. In 1917 he served on the Wisconsin Liberty Loan executive committee and in the same year was made state director of War Savings for Wisconsin. In 1919 he was made government director of savings for the Seventh Federal Reserve District and in that year became a trustee of the Milwaukee-Downer College and of Marquette University. He has also acted as treasurer of many philanthropic campaigns and is constantly extending a helping hand where aid is needed for the individual or for the community at large.