lawyer, politician, b. Pigeon Falls. He graduated from the Univ. of Wisconsin (LL.B., 1894) and was admitted to the bar. He practiced law in Whitehall (1894-1911) and was district attorney for Trempealeau County (1895-1899). A La Follette Progressive Republican, he was state assemblyman (1903-1908) and speaker in the session of 1907. In the assembly he was co-author of the railroad retirement and teachers' retirement acts, and was instrumental in establishing the state life insurance code. He was state insurance commissioner (1910-1915) and state attorney general (1923-1927). In 1926 he was the choice of Robert M. La Follette, Jr. (q.v.), and his followers for the gubernatorial nomination, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Fred R. Zimmerman. In 1938 he was appointed lieutenant governor by Governor Philip La Follette to fill the unexpired term of H. A. Gunderson, and in the same year was the unsuccessful Progressive candidate for the U.S. Senate. A noted Chicago insurance lawyer, he was president of the Lutheran Brotherhood (legal reserve life insurance), but maintained his residence in Madison from 1915 until his death. He was a regent of the Univ. of Wisconsin (1939-1943). Madison Wis. State Journal, Dec. 5, 1954; M. M. Quaife, Wis. (4 vols., Chicago, 1924); R. S. Maxwell, La Follette and the Rise of the Progressives . . . [Madison, 19561; Who's Who in Amer., 28 (1952); H. L. Ekern Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Herman L. Ekern Papers for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]