Nov 26, 2013
An extraordinary entrepreneur and one of America’s leading philanthropists, Joe Zilber started a small real estate company in 1949 which he built in to a thriving multi-million dollar real estate enterprise. After 60 years in business, Zilber turned his attention to philanthropy. Milwaukee Magazine editor Kurt Chandler held extensive interviews with Zilber before the developer's death in 2010, and on October 10th Marquette University Press published Zilber’s story of deals well done and of a life well lived in the memoir How I Built an Empire & Gave it Away. Rotarian Mike Mervis, who served for over 35 years as a special assistant to Mr. Zilber, recently retired as vice president of Zilber Ltd and is a member of the Board of the Zilber Family Foundation, led a conversation with Chandler at Rotary on November 26th.