Frederick P. and Joan F. Kessler

Frederick P. Kessler was born in Milwaukee and graduated from Milwaukee Lutheran High School. Kessler was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1960, becoming at age 21, the youngest person at that time ever to serve in the legislature. In 1962 he received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1964 he was reelected to the Assembly where he served until 1972. In 1966 he also received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After leaving the Assembly, Kessler served as a Milwaukee County Judge from 1972 to 1978 and a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge from 1978 to 1981 and 1986 to 1988. He resigned both times in unsuccessful attempts to become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1977 to 1978 Kessler served on the Committee on Court Reorganization which drafted the landmark Court Reorganization act of 1978. Kessler also works as a labor arbitrator and redistricting consultant. In 2004 Representative Kessler was once again elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly serving the people of the 12th district through January 2019 until his retirement from office. In 2015, Kessler organized a group of lawyers and two non-lawyers which resulted in the Whitford v. Brennon case concerning excessive partisan redistricting (Gerrymandering). The case went to the US Supreme Court which unfortunately ruled against Kessler’s group by a 5 to 4 margin.

Representative Kessler has long been active in the Milwaukee community. In 1986 he organized AWARE (A Wisconsin African Relief Effort), a group dedicated to fighting drought in West Africa. At the time of this writing, he serves as the current vice president and former president of the Goethe House, the current secretary and former board member of the Wisconsin Academy of Literature, Arts, and Sciences and a member of the board of directors for the World Affairs Council of Wisconsin. Kessler has served on the Labor Law and Alternative Dispute boards for the Wisconsin Bar Association, on the board of directors and as former president of the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, as a unit chairperson for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, as chairman of Amnesty International Group 107, and as vice president of the Milwaukee Chapter of DANK (German-American National Congress). Kessler is a member of the Milwaukee Donauschwaben, the Milwaukee Turners, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He is also a former advisory board member of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Industrial Relations Research Association and a former member of the City of Milwaukee Harbor Commission.

Joan F. Kessler received her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas in 1966 and her law degree from Marquette University, cum laude, in 1968. After serving as Law Clerk to Honorable John W. Reynolds, U.S. District Court of Eastern District of Wisconsin (1968-69), she entered private practice in Milwaukee. She then served as United States Attorney, Eastern District of Wisconsin (1978-81). After a 20-year career with Foley & Lardner, in 2004 she was first elected Appellate Court Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District 1, in Milwaukee. Judge Kessler retired from the Court in 2020.

Judge Kessler has long been a leader serving professional associations. Her positions include: Member/Board of Directors, Milwaukee Bar Association; Chair, Section of Individual Rights, Responsibilities, American Bar Association; Referee, Office of Lawyer Regulation; Member, American Law Institute; Member, Seventh Circuit Bar Association; Member, Wisconsin Bar Association; Member, Lawyers Association for Women; Member, Milwaukee Young Lawyers; Former Member, Judicial Council of Wisconsin; Former Member, Supreme Court Decorum Committee