Known for Founder of MSOE Role Engineer Fields Engineer | Name Oscar Werwath Died March 20, 1948 | |
Institutions Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) Alma mater University of Darmstadt Residence Germany, United States of America | ||
Oscar Werwath (1880 – March 20, 1948) was the founder and first president of the Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. He is buried at Forest Home Cemetery.
Born in Stalluponen, Germany on May 3, 1880, Werwath was born to department store owner Carl and his wife, Johanna. At the turn of the 20th century Oscar Werwath came to Wisconsin when he was 23, shortly after finishing his degree from the University of Darmstadt. Knowing the strong German-American reputation and industrial center, he decided to settle in Milwaukee, becoming employed at the Louis Allis Co. shortly after. Seeing that skilled engineering in Milwaukee was in great demand, Werwath conceptualized a local school that could accommodate the needed work force. Approaching the president of Rheude's Business School, Werwath was given permission to establish a series of night classes for young men in practical electricity. Shortly after the courses began, enrollment grew to be too large for the business school. Still working with the Louis Allis Co. in 1905, Werwath was encouraged to open an engineering school as Allis donated $500 toward the "School of Engineering" ("Milwaukee" was added later in 1932). Oscar then became the president of his school until his death in 1948.
In 1908 Oscar and Johanna married and resettled in Milwaukee. The Werwaths had four children; Karl (1909-1979), Greta (1910-2003), Hannah (1913-1984), and Heinz (1916-1987), all of whom worked at the Milwaukee School of Engineering at some point in their life. Karl, Oscar's oldest son, was a graduate of his father's school in 1936 and became president one month after his father's death in 1948 until 1977.