Elmer Winter
 Elmer Winter Entrepreneur, artist and philanthropist, Elmer Winter,
co-founded Manpower Inc., the world's largest temporary job
service company, in Milwaukee. At the same time Winter
worked to improve the lives and educational opportunities
for children in his community by donating his time
and resources. As one of the leading spokesmen for
the Jewish community, Winter has also taken an active
role in fostering Mideast peace. His artwork has
been displayed in both Israel and the United States.
Winter was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 6, 1912. Educated in Milwaukee public schools, Winter entered the University of Wisconsin in 1929 and graduated with a degree in economics. He went on to the University of Wisconsin Law School, receiving his degree in 1935. After graduation Winter worked as a tax editor in Chicago before returning to Milwaukee to practice law with his brother-in-law, Aaron Scheinfeld, in 1936.
Winter and Scheinfeld hit upon the idea of a temporary
labor force in 1948. Faced with an early deadline,
they had badly needed extra assistance on an important
brief and came up with the idea of employing temporary
workers as a solution. Winter and Scheinfeld named
their part-time program Manpower Inc. and opened
a tiny storefront office in downtown Milwaukee. The
success of the company soon led them to open offices
in other cities both around the country and around
the world. By the time he retired in 1976, Winter
had opened Manpower offices in 20 countries. Today
the Milwaukee-based company has more than 4,300 offices
in 72 countries and is one of the largest employers in the
United States.
During his years at Manpower, Winter became active
in a number of programs aimed at helping minority
youth find jobs. He began a program called Youthpower,
which provided free summer job placement services
to teenagers in the Milwaukee area. Winter also served
on several local and national committees, including
the National Committee for Full Employment, the Metropolitan
Milwaukee division of the National Alliance of Businessmen,
and the Milwaukee Voluntary Equal Employment Opportunity
Council. After retiring from Manpower, Winter founded
Operation 4000, a nonprofit organization that provides
job training for Milwaukee youths aged 18 to 24.
Beyond Milwaukee, Winter worked on behalf of the
Jewish community on a national and international
scale. In 1972 Winter became president of the American
Jewish Committee, meeting with Pope John Paul II
several times to enlist his support in fighting anti-Semitism.
At the request of then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin, Winter established the Committee for Economic
Growth of Israel to expand trade relations between
the U.S. and Israel in 1976. He also served as a
member of the Bi-national Business Council, an organization
charged with furthering business relationships between
Israeli and American companies. Winter's work
was rewarded with recognition from the president
of Israel in 1987 and the prime minister in 1998.
Additionally, as an amateur painter and sculptor,
Winter's work has been displayed in Israel and the
U.S. Winter took up art as a hobby in the 1950s,
and it taught him to experiment and to explore all
opportunities — lessons that he then transferred
to his business management.
Married to Nannette Rosenberg until her death in
1990, Winter has three daughters, eight grandchildren
and six great-grandchildren. He married Hope Melamed
in 1992.
The Wisconsin Historical Society celebrated the lifetime achievements of Elmer Winter, along with four other individuals with Wisconsin ties, during its first annual History Makers Gala in Milwaukee on May 23, 2006. Winter was the recipient of The Samuel C. Johnson Award for Distinction in Corporate Leadership. Winter died on October 22, 2009, in Mequon, Wisconsin. He was 97.
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