It’s been more than 40 years since the late Robert Harland first had the idea of creating the hands-on science center that would become Discovery World in Milwaukee.
And it’s been about a dozen years since the museum commissioned a statue of the philanthropist – a bronze figure of Harland seated on a park bench along the museum’s glittering lakefront.
In the years since many a museum visitor, including Harland’s own grandchildren, have plopped down on the bench next to the philanthropist.
Now he will be permanently joined by the two men who helped him make Discovery World what it is today.
On Thursday, Discovery World unveiled an updated founders’ statue, which now features life size figures of real estate developer Gary Grunau sitting next to Harland and Marquette Electronics co-founder Michael J. Cudahy standing behind them.
Both men invested heavily in the effort to transform Discovery World into a world-class museum, but Cudahy, who the museum describes as a “relentless tinkerer” was especially instrumental in those efforts, working to take the museum from space at the Milwaukee Public Museum to a building of its own along Lake Michigan in 2006.
Harland died in 2003. Grunau died in 2019. Cudahy died in March of last year. The original statue was created by artist Mike Capser, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. The updated version was designed by artist Nancy Schoettel, who is the wife of Discovery World’s chief operating officer, Carl Shoettel.
On Thursday, museum leaders gathered to talk about the immense contributions of the three men, while family members, that included sons, daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren waited for a chance to get a photo with their loved ones.
“Mike was enamored with Bob’s contributions and original idea for the museum, that it was his idea to put Bob on the bench,” recalled Terence McMahon, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, who worked with Cudahy, visiting other science museums as they worked to come up with ideas for Discovery World’s. “He was very proud of Bob’s work and wanted to carry it on.”
McMahon added that it was Grunau, who sat on the city’s Board of Harbor Commissioners, who gave the nascent museum planners a chance, even early on as they were only planning a small maritime center, and Cudahy who told them that “they weren’t thinking big enough.”
“These three guys were titans of the community,” McMahon said. “They were extremely successful men, and what makes them so unique, is that all upon retirement, after selling their business, they didn’t leave Milwaukee. They stayed here and gave back to the community, not only at Discovery World, but their fingerprints are all over the community.”
Julie Cudahy, Michael Cudahy’s daughter who works at the museum along with her son, called the statue a tribute to her father and Grunau and Harland, and their passion “to inspire younger generations” with science.
“It really means a lot to see all the faces of all these people my dad worked with,” she added.
Following the event, Harland’s son, Rich Harland shared a statement – what he thought his father would say if he could see the additions of Grunau and Cudahy on the bench:
“If Dad were here today, I can say that he would be absolutely delighted that these too good men, who were friends of his, are joining him on the bench. He would say that Mike and Gary not only enthusiastically supported the mission of Discovery World, but that the two of them were essential in making Discovery World what it is today.”
