Albert O. "Ab" Nicholas dies

Albert O. "Ab" Nicholas, a prominent philanthropist and nationally known Milwaukee money manager, died Thursday.

Nicholas, who was 85, donated millions to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his alma mater; to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee; to Brightstar Foundation for investment in the state's emerging growth companies; and to many other causes.

But his kindness went beyond the financial.

"He was generous with his interest in other people, generous with his friendships, generous with his laughter and generous with his family," said Gary Manning, rector at Trinity Episcopal Church in Wauwatosa, Nicholas' long-time parish.

A tall man with a long gait, Nicholas often left his downtown Milwaukee office for lunch, nodding and smiling at his many acquaintances as he strode down Water St.

He was a standout basketball player in college, but Nicholas chose an investment career over professional basketball. He formed Nicholas Co. in 1967 and built it into a firm that managed more than $5 billion. At his death, he was still co-manager of the firm's flagship Nicholas Fund, one of the longest-running mutual funds in the country.

Over more than three decades, Nicholas built a robust investment record, outperforming the Standard & Poor's 500 by an average of two percentage points a year — a difference that created great wealth for his shareholders, said David Nicholas, Ab's son and president of Nicholas Co.

Ab Nicholas started his firm to provide small investors with professional management and low fees, his son said. When the company began, it required only a $500 minimum investment, which it never increased.

"For him, it was all about the shareholder," he said.

Despite his investing success, the Rockford, Ill., native remained humble, never forgetting where he came from, said Ted Kellner, executive chairman of Fiduciary Management Inc. Kellner, who worked for Nicholas for six years, said he, like hundreds of others, viewed Nicholas as a mentor.

"Ab was a giant," Kellner said. "Just a wonderful guy."

Nicholas started at shooting guard for the Badgers from 1949 to 1952, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors his final two seasons. He averaged 16 points a game his senior year and was named a second-team All-American by Look magazine.

"He was competitive, and he wasn’t afraid to use his elbows,” said Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, who played basketball with Nicholas at the Milwaukee Athletic Club in the early 1980s.

After college, Nicholas was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA. He went into the Army instead, then later spurned an offer to play for the NBA's Milwaukee Hawks, choosing to go to graduate school to study finance and investments.

Nicholas Co. made a name for itself as a disciplined shop with a long-term investment philosophy. The firm never advertised, but it attracted billions of dollars of assets with good performance that year after year landed it on the Forbes Honor Roll.

Nicholas' philanthropy was extensive. Last year, he and his wife Nancy donated $50 million to UW-Madison for undergraduate and athletic scholarships and graduate fellowships. Among other gifts from Nicholas were $2 million, also last year, to expand the basketball program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, and $1 million, in 2013, to the Brightstar Wisconsin Foundation, a nonprofit that invests in young tech companies.

Nicholas and his wife also in 2013 created a foundation with a $50 million endowment to provide scholarships for selected high school basketball players to attend University of Wisconsin System schools. The reason: Nicholas said he wanted to give Wisconsin students the same opportunities he had.

Nicholas likely would not have been able to attend college unless he'd gotten a scholarship to UW-Madison, his son said.

"His love was giving back to Madison and giving back to young people," David Nicholas said.

"Generations of Wisconsin student-athletes, coaches, staff members and fans have — and will continue to — benefit from his contributions, financial and otherwise, and passion for UW-Madison," said Barry Alvarez, the university's athletic director. "He represented the best of all we aspire to, and he will be dearly missed by the entire Wisconsin family."

"Ab's legacy will be part of this campus for decades to come," said Rebecca Blank, UW-Madison's chancellor.

In 2008, Nicholas funded with a $10 million gift The Samaritan Foundation for Church and Family Wellness, which provides programming nationwide to support and empower families. He didn't want any fanfare about his gift; he did it because he was a man of deep faith, rooted in family, said Rev. Scott Stoner, the foundation's president and executive director

"The story of the good Samaritan is the story of the person who stopped to help," Stoner said. "And that was Ab: He stopped to help."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Rick Romell of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.