LeSage led Marquette development, other projects
As both a private developer and a state economic development official, Patrick LeSage jokingly gave himself a nickname: Front Page LeSage.
By the time he retired, LeSage was known for such things as helping recruit high-profile businesses to Wisconsin, co-founding a firm that created several Milwaukee-area business parks, and leading Marquette University’s campus-area commercial developments.
LeSage, 80, died March 2 in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lived after retiring. He was born in Franklin and graduated from Marquette University before working in business development at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Flad Architects and Wisconsin Electric Power Co.
Gov. Tony Earl in 1984 named LeSage to serve as president of Forward Wisconsin, a new agency formed to market the state to businesses.
In that role, LeSage drew news media attention for his efforts to recruit and retain high-profile firms, said Juli Kaufmann, his daughter.
LeSage joined J. Michael Mooney in 1987 to launch Mooney LeSage Group, now known as MLG Capital. The firm developed business parks in Milwaukee and suburbs − and LeSage was quoted in news stories about those projects.
“Pat was a great salesman,” said Mooney, MLG Capital chair and principal. “He could be very charming. He was full of energy.”
LeSage also was president of Marquette University’s Campus Circle initiative from 1991 to 1995. It focused on high-profile residential and commercial development near campus − in part to help improve the neighborhood after crime became a bigger concern for Marquette students and their families.
Campus Circle spent $53 million buying, renovating and building businesses and apartments, according to a 1995 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
LeSage in 1995 launched a new firm, Pettibone Group. That company included his daughter, Juli, who now operates Fix Development LLC.
After retiring LeSage split his time largely between a home in Waupaca and a winter home in Arizona.
A memorial service and tribute to LeSage’s life will be held April 5, with visitation from 1-3 p.m. and service at 3 p.m. at the Max A. Sass & Sons Mission Hills Chapel, 8910 W. Drexel Ave., Franklin. A reception will follow at the Polish Center, 6941 S. 68th St., Franklin.
A future service is planned in Waupaca when the weather warms.