Bill Leinenkugal dies at 87

From the story in the Chippewa Herald

Taking a new job was not the only good thing to happen to Bill Leinenkugel in 1947.

He would also meet and marry Mary Lou Larson, a Chippewa Falls girl who loved to play cards.

Bill took his new job seriously.

He would keep scrapbooks of the tavern owners he was working with and their families.

He would be appointed vice president of sales and advertising in 1965 and as executive vice president in 1970.

A year later the brewery’s president an sales manager suffered a stroke, and Bill Leinenkugel was needed to lead the company founded by his great-grandfather, Jacob.

“All of a sudden, I was in a leadership role. It was on-the-job training,” he told the Herald in 2002.

He would eventually become the brewery’s sales manager, ad manager, public relations manager, credit manager and governmental affairs manager.

“You were a jack of all trades and really, you were a master of none,” he said.

Under his guidance, the company expanded the beer’s markets to the Twin Cities and Chicago.

He would go on to serve as a director and president of the Brewers Association of America, and director and secretary of the Wisconsin State Brewers Association.

He also created the concept of the Leinie Lodge by coming up with the idea to open the Leinenkugel’s Hospitality and Tour Center in 1979.

By 1986, he was 65, and had been in the business for 40 years. “I was kind of burned out and I couldn’t take the travel like I used to,”