Frederick Pabst

Working as a Great Lakes steamer captain, Pabst met the prominent Milwaukee brewer Phillip Best. He married Best’s daughter and invested his savings in the business. After Best’s retirement, Pabst and another son-in-law, Emil Schandein, built the brewery into the nation’s largest, eventually becoming the Pabst Brewing Company. Among his many contributions to Milwaukee’s social and cultural life was the Pabst Theater.