Service to Marquette Award

ANNA CLAIR AND GEORGE J. GASPAR,
BUS AD '58

Mequon, Wis.

It takes a rather remarkable person to attain so much knowledge in one area of expertise that he is able to issue a trade publication bearing his name. George Gaspar is that remarkable.

Shortly after George joined Robert W. Baird in 1975, he began issuing the Gaspar Report, a synopsis of activity in the oil and petroleum industries, his specialty.

During an early-career Gulf of Mexico offshore rig visit, George says: “I remember asking the Rowan Company CEO, ‘How do you find oil?’ As the rain dripped off his hard hat, he answered, ‘You smell for it.’ ”

George was elevated to vice president at Baird the same year he arrived. Then, in 1980, he was appointed to the company’s board of directors and a year later became first vice president. Eventually, he became managing director and senior investment analyst of the petroleum research group, a position he held until 2005. He retired from Baird in 2009. But his success at the company was merely the tip of the iceberg for George, who has spent a lifetime serving others.

“I’ve always had a desire to contribute in community efforts that preserve what is important and forge success,” he says.

Early civic involvement included chairing the YMCA Economic Roundtable and serving as president of the Bel Canto Chorus board of directors. He continued his civic involvement with the United Performing Arts Fund and as a corporate member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra board of directors. But that’s not all. George was early director of the Milwaukee Tennis Classic Foundation and director and chairman of the board of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts leading up to the venue’s major renovation in the early 1990s. He also is a founding board chair of Nativity Jesuit Middle School, where he remains an emeritus director, and formerly chaired Church of the Gesu’s investment committee and was active in the recent organ renovation project. George’s current effort is his leadership of the War Memorial Center board of trustees and serving as president of the newly formed facility board of the WMC.

“My personal and professional career has been about maintaining reasonable objectives associated with Jesuit principles,” he says.

Anna Clair has been engaged in numerous programs at Marquette, including as 2005–08 president of the Haggerty Museum of Art Friends board, co-chair of the Haggerty Gala and various spring benefits. She continues active participation in other museum matters, as well. Additionally, she is an active member of the Marquette’s Women’s Council, co-chairing several functions and chairing the membership committee. Past community efforts include serving as board chair for Dominican High School.