School of Business > UPDATE > Spring 2002 > Article

Young at Heart
Maurice Reese, 80, Earns His Degree in Business

Maurice J. Reese is an 80-year-old grandfather of eight, the retired owner of a successful insurance agency. He is also one of the newest graduates of the UW-Madison School of Business. In December 2001, Reese earned his bachelor's in business administration more than 50 years after initially enrolling as a student.

Maurice Reese earned his undergraduate degree at the age of 80.

Youthful appearing, with piercing blue eyes, Reese is a man of few words. He has a simple explanation for his decision to return to school-"I've always liked to learn." Born in 1921, Reese grew up during the Depression as one of seven children of a farm family living outside Evansville, Wisconsin. He had to drop out of school to help support the family. When World War II began, he served in the Navy until his discharge in 1945.

Reese lost no time once the war ended. He returned to Wisconsin, earned his high school equivalency degree, took math courses at the Madison Area Technical College and enrolled in business at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. While attending school, Reese also worked in the insurance business. His senior year, his boss offered him a supervisory job with the company. Since the starting salary was three to four times what most college graduates of the era could expect, Reese decided to leave school to work full time.

Over the next 40 years, he became a fixture in the Wisconsin insurance business, eventually opening his own agency, Maurice J. Reese Agency, that served all of Wisconsin and northern Illinois. He was the first president of the Lake City Bank in Madison and served on the city's Chamber of Commerce board and the board of the Wisconsin Life Underwriters.

Despite his career success, Reese wanted to complete his degree some day. As time allowed, he took courses. By fall of 2001, he needed only five credits to complete his degree. He enrolled in an International Business course taught by Senior Lecturer Rod Matthews and an Organizational Behavior course taught by Teaching Professor Loren Kuzuhara. Reese thoroughly enjoyed his return to the classroom, sitting with aplomb in the front row of each class, next to students a quarter of his age. He found the course in international business of particular interest. "Everyone should take this kind of course to see what the world is up to," Reese said.

Matthews was equally enthusiastic about having Reese as a student. "I very much enjoyed having Maurice in my class. The experiences from his business career that he shared with the class were very valuable to the other students."

At the end of December, Reese took his last two finals and completed the coursework for his degree. After all his hard work, one might think he would be eager to attend the graduation ceremony, but he decided to pass. Instead, he opted to take his family-wife Arlene, their three children and eight grandchildren-to dinner to celebrate.

Reese doesn't expect the degree to make a major change in his life. He was already proud of his career, he already had been a "dues paying" member of the Wisconsin Alumni Association for years, he already had to give up watching UW football games because he got "too emotionally involved." Still, it is clear that having the chance to finally finish what he started gives this quiet man some quiet satisfaction.