Elmer L. Winter*

In 1912, Elmer Winter was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his immigrant father owned a clothing store. After graduating from high school in 1929, Winter earned an economics degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In 1935, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and after working as a tax editor in Chicago, he returned to Milwaukee to practice law.

Forced to hire temporary workers to meet an important deadline, Winter and his partner, Aaron Scheinfeld, conceived a business that would supply a temporary labor force. They named their part-time program Manpower, Inc. and opened a small storefront office in downtown Milwaukee in 1948. In its first year of operation, the company lost money. Winter thought of closing the business, but decided to give it one more year. The business caught on and soon exceeded his expectations.

Manpower's success led Winter to open offices in other cities nationwide and around the world. By the time he retired in 1976, Winter had opened Manpower offices in 20 countries.

The thought that so many lives have been improved because of Manpower's role was a constant source of pride to Winter. "We were one of the first service businesses to franchise," he said. "Many people come to see me today whose parents started a Manpower franchise in the 1950s. Now they have joined their parents and are operating a successful family business."

During his years at Manpower, Winter was active in many programs aimed at helping minority youth find jobs. He began a program called Youthpower, which provided free summer job replacement services to teenagers in the Milwaukee area. After retiring from Manpower, Winter founded Operation 4000, a nonprofit organization that provided job training for Milwaukee youths ages 18 to 24.