Marquette University President Michael Lovell Has Died
June 10, 2024Obituary People
Photo courtesy of Marquette University

Remembering Marquette University President Michael Lovell

“He was a gentle person who cared deeply about Milwaukee. He served our community with distinction,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said.

BY Rich Rovito

Marquette University President Michael Lovell died on Sunday while in Rome, leaving a devastating void that extends far beyond the boundaries of the West Side campus of the Jesuit institution.

News of Lovell’s death quickly reverberated throughout the city, region and state.

“Marquette University has always been a great institution in Milwaukee; President Lovell made Marquette a great community partner,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in a statement. “His faith was deep, and his commitment to service went beyond the boundaries of the campus. He promoted community service, he worked to improve public safety and his leadership with the Near West Side Partners elevated that organization in ways that would not have been possible without him.”

Johnson also noted Lovell’s kindness and humility.

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“He was a gentle person who cared deeply about Milwaukee. He served our community with distinction,” Johnson said. “My sympathy goes out to his family, to the Marquette community, and to everyone in Milwaukee whose lives were touched by this great man.”

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce issued a statement extending its sympathies to the Marquette community, the family and loved ones of Lovell.

“His leadership and dedication to education have had a profound impact on Milwaukee,” the organization stated. “The future of our region is better because of his contributions.”

Marquette announced Sunday afternoon that Lovell had died following a three-year battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

“Together, we pray for President Lovell’s family, especially his wife Amy, his children, and his friends, as well as for all members of our Marquette and Milwaukee communities, as we grieve this immeasurable loss,” the university stated in an email.

Marquette said Lovell and his wife were in Rome with members of the Society of Jesus and the Board of Trustees on a Jesuit formation pilgrimage when Lovell fell ill and was taken to a hospital in Rome.

“The days ahead will be full of heartbreak. In this time of grief and sadness, let us come together as a community linked by faith and love,” the university stated.

A native of Meadville, Pennsylvania, Lovell become the first lay president in Marquette’s 133-year history. He was named the university’s 24th president in 2014.

Under his guidance, Marquette has focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and community renewal and development, all of which Lovell consistently stated are strongly tied to university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission.

Working with business and community leaders in Marquette’s neighborhood, Lovell helped create the Near West Side Partners, a nonprofit focused on strengthening economic development, housing, neighborhood identity and safety.

In a November 2021 interview with Milwaukee Magazine, Lovell was asked about what he saw as the role of Marquette in serving the community in which Marquette exists. Lovell responded by noting that the Marquette student body at that time was performing 500,000 hours of community service per year.

“It’s our role when we see disparities and injustices to go out and be agents of change,” Lovell said. “We have so many challenges in Milwaukee that need to be addressed and we want to ensure that our faculty, staff and students are part of addressing those issues and that we are using our God-given talents and skills to make changes.”

Lovell and his wife co-founded Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee, a community-wide effort addressing the impacts of generational trauma. Lovell opened up about the childhood trauma he faced in a 2018 article in Milwaukee Magazine. 

Lovell also played a key role in launching several other important initiatives in Milwaukee, including the Midwest Energy Research Consortium, The Commons, Scale-Up Milwaukee, The Water Council and the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute. 

He also led Marquette through the vast array of deeply troubling challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially issues pertaining to mental health in the campus community.

“Mental health became a real challenge,” Lovell told Milwaukee Magazine in 2021. “Prior to the pandemic, one in three students were being seen for mental health issues. Depression, anxiety or other ailments. Once the pandemic hit, because people were isolated, it became one in two. One of the things we really worked on is to reach our population and serve them around things like mental health.”

Lovell also had strong ties to Marquette’s athletics programs, including the men’s basketball team and head coach Shaka Smart.

“He’s a real person. He has a genuine care and concern for every single student at the university, but he’s got a special place in his heart for the student-athletes,” Smart said of Lovell after Marquette captured its first Big East Tournament title in March 2023. The team invited Lovell to help cut down the nets after the victory in celebration of the moment.

Social media has been flooded with remembrances of Lovell.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), the Milwaukee Bucks stated that Lovell “was a dedicated leader and educator who cared deeply about Marquette, its students and our city and his passing is a terrible loss for all of us. An important voice in support of Fiserv Forum being built, President Lovell stood firmly for progress and innovation, and we will always be grateful for his long-time friendship with the Bucks. His extraordinary impact will be remembered forever.”

Former Marquette basketball star Travis Diener posted this:

Loyola Marymount University head coach Stan Johnson, who served five seasons as an assistant coach at Marquette, had this to say:

From long-time Milwaukee journalist Mike Gousha, a senior advisor in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School:

Business executive Kim Marotta, who has years-long ties to Marquette, posted thoughts of Lovell, as did two of her children who attended the university:

From Lauren Van Kleunen, former Marquette women’s basketball player:

Milwaukee Admirals President Jon Greenberg added:

Lovell served on the boards of The Water Council, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars. He was a member of the executive committees of the Higher Education Regional Alliance, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and the Big East Conference and co-chaired the Council on Competitiveness’s University Leadership Forum and the Wisconsin Chapter of CEOs Against Cancer. 

Prior to Marquette, Lovell served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and, earlier, dean of its engineering college.

“Mike’s impact on UWM, Marquette and the greater Milwaukee community was immense, and so is the grief we all feel upon learning of his loss,” UW-Milwaukee posted on social media.

Lovell also previously held academic and research leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Kentucky.

A campus prayer vigil is being planned in memory of Lovell. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Rich Rovito
Rich Rovito is a freelance writer for Milwaukee Magazine.

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