Karl Martin Strauss

Master brewer Karl Martin Strauss of Fox Point died Dec. 21. He was 94.

Born in Minden, Germany, this son of a brewer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in brewing from the Technical University Munich in 1933. He came to Milwaukee in 1939 and worked for the Pabst Brewing Co.

According to an obituary in the San Diego Metropolitan Uptown Examiner and Daily Business Report, Strauss moved to California in 1948, where he continued to work for Pabst. In 1954-55, he attended a program for executives at the University of California-Los Angeles.

He stayed with Pabst when it merged with Blatz in 1959. He retired from Pabst in 1983. In 1989, he joined with two partners to form the Karl Strauss Brewing Co., “the first microbrewery of its kind in San Diego,” according to the Metropolitan.

According to his family, “Brewing was both a vocation and a hobby” for him. He was a past-president of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas, and a member of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

He was a co-author of the book, “The Practical Brewer.” He received awards from the Master Brewers Association; and the Museum of Beer and Brewing in Milwaukee created an award named after him for people who have made outstanding contributions to the industry.

He was a member of B’nai B’rith, and director and past president of the Katahdin Foundation (Northwest General Osteopathic Hospital). He lived in Milwaukee “for the past several years,” according to the Metropolitan, and during that time was a member of Congregation Sinai.

His first wife, Irene Vollweiler, died in 1978. He is survived by his second wife, Marjean Strauss (nee Schaefer); step-children Steven Kuehmichel, Susan (Bruce) Nelson, Thomas Karl Strauss Schaefer and Sharon (Robert) Young; brother-in-law Jerold (Judy) Schaefer; and 15 step-grandchildren.

Two funeral services were held, one at Sinai on Dec. 26, the second with burial on Dec. 29 in San Diego.

The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the scholarship committee of the Master Brewers Association, 2421 N. Mayfair Rd., Suite 310, Wauwatosa, WI 53226; the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, 1400 Jackson St., Denver, CO 80206; or the Wisconsin Humane Society, 4500 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53208.