Highlights Archives
Society's Second in Command Calls it a Career
Bob Thomasgard, a guiding force in the direction of the Wisconsin Historical Society since February 1983, has retired from a 36-year-long career in state service. Thomasgard was honored for his service to the state and to the Society in a gathering of his many friends and colleagues on Friday, January 9. His last day on the job was December 30, 2008. While serving under four Society directors, Thomasgard also stepped to the fore to lead the Society on three occasions — as acting director from April to September 1985 and from April to September 1996, and as director from 2002 to 2004.
During his 25-year tenure with the Society, Thomasgard served as a key member of teams that oversaw the growth of its programs and properties, including the relocation of the Wisconsin Historical Museum from the basement and first floor of the headquarters building to its own facility on Madison's Capitol Square, an expanded historic preservation program, addition of the Office of School Services and National History Day, and three additional historic sites: First Capitol, H.H. Bennett Studio and Reed School. He was also instrumental in the growth of the Society's library, archives and museum collections and worked tirelessly to build the case for an off-site facility to house most of those collections. Thanks to those efforts, construction of an off-site storage facility appears within reach.
Thomasgard will be missed by his colleagues for many reasons — for his keen understanding of the inner workings of state government, the depth of his knowledge of facilities management and budgetary matters, and the good nature and sense of humor he consistently displayed, even during the toughest of times. The Society hereby bids adieu to one of the finest administrators in its history and wishes him a long and leisurely retirement.
:: Posted January 15, 2009
|
