Outstanding Dental Service Award

THOMAS E. RAIMANN, D.D.S., DENT '80
New Berlin, Wis.

Dr. Tom Raimann understands the importance of a good foundation, a concept he first learned from his father, who was a mason contractor. Through his private dental practice and community volunteering, he shows patients that a healthy smile is the foundation of a healthy body.

After graduating from the School of Dentistry, he bought a practice from another dentist with a classmate and has been working in Hales Corners, Wis., ever since.

“Friends have become patients, and patients have become friends,” he says. “Having something different to do every day has been wonderful.”

Tom is active in organized dentistry at the local, state and national levels, including serving on the Wisconsin Dental Association Board of Trustees as a representative of the Greater Milwaukee Region.

He is also again serving as state chair of the WDA and WDA Foundation Mission of Mercy, which provides free, critical care to low-income adults and children. This year's two-day, large-scale MOM dental clinic will be held in Green Bay in late June.

He has chaired the greater Milwaukee area's Head Start Dental Day for 14 years and works two half days a month treating children at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Dental Clinic on Milwaukee's south side.

Tom credits Marquette for nurturing his interest in helping serve the community.

“A Jesuit sat next to me on a bench once and said, ‘Do not forget the poor.’ I only saw him a few times after that, but I still remember what he told me,” Tom says.

In January 2014, Tom joined the School of Dentistry as a part-time faculty member on the clinic floor in the General Dental Sciences Department.

“I have no secret formula for success. Just hard work, kindness and some good luck,” he says.

Hometown: Muskego, Wis.
Favorite book: “Undaunted Courage, the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition.”
Dream dinner guest: Bill Clinton
One of his favorite Marquette memories: “Camping out on campus for basketball tickets for one week during the 1976–77 season.”
Career he aspired to in grade school: An aerospace engineer. “It was at the height of the space race, and I had all the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space capsule information that NASA would send out.”
Most influential people: “My father. He told me to be a dentist.”