Quadracci Family Pledges US$10 Million to Care for Milwaukee's Lakefront Pavilion
The children of Betty and Harry Quadracci have pledged US$10 million to the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin, to help look after the building that carries their parents' name.
The money will go into a new fund called the Quadracci Pavilion Preservation Endowment Fund. An endowment is money that is invested for the long term, with only the yearly income spent on a set purpose. In this case, the museum said the income will pay for the long-term care of the Pavilion's defining architectural features. The Milwaukee Art Museum announced the gift on October 26, 2026.
The donors are the four children of Betty and Harry Quadracci: Joel Quadracci, Kathryn Quadracci, Elizabeth Quadracci Harned and H. Richard Quadracci. The commitment also includes their spouses, Caran Quadracci, Raja Flores, and Chris Harned. H. Richard Quadracci died in the summer of 2026. Joel Quadracci is chairman and chief executive of Quad, the company the family runs.
The Pavilion opened in 2001 and turned 25 years old on Milwaukee's lakefront this year. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, and it is his first building in the United States. Its best-known feature is the Burke Brise Soleil, a pair of wing-like structures that shade the glass and overlook Lake Michigan. "Brise soleil" is a term for sun-shading screens built into a building's outer walls.
The Pavilion was built with the help of a US$10 million lead challenge grant from Betty and Harry Quadracci. A lead challenge grant is a large gift meant to encourage other people to give as well. The new pledge follows that earlier gift by more than two decades.
The pledge is also the first major donation secured by Kim Sajet since she became director of the museum. She holds the title Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director. Sajet joined the Milwaukee Art Museum just over a year ago, after serving as director of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. A museum update from September 2025 said she spent twelve years in that role. In that time, she raised more than US$85 million for the gallery's operations and endowment, and attendance doubled. The gallery also made major capital improvements, including reinstalling its America's Presidents gallery.
The Milwaukee Art Museum says its collection now holds more than 35,000 works spanning continents and centuries. The Pavilion, which houses much of that collection, is the part of the museum most visitors see first from the lake side. The new fund is aimed at keeping that building in shape for the decades ahead.
The museum also shared the news on its official Facebook page, describing the pledge as a gift from the Windhover Foundation and the Quadracci family.
