Karl Strauss - Career in America

Career in America

In 1939, Strauss left Germany for the United States, followed soon by his first wife, Irene Vollweiler. He had planned to join family members in San Francisco, California, but stopped in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the urging of an uncle to visit family friends. While there he applied for a job with the Pabst Brewing Company, which he intended to be temporary. "I arrived in Milwaukee on St. Patrick's Day, 1939," he later recalled. "I started to work at Pabst on May 11, 1939, and I worked for Pabst for 44 years."

He began his work at Pabst feeding bottles to the bottle soaker. However, "once Pabst realized that it had a Bavarian brew master in its employ, Strauss quickly advanced." Within a few months he was promoted to foreman of filtration. He continued to quickly move up the corporate ladder, becoming an assistant superintendent and later malt house superintendent. In 1942, he was transferred to Pabst's brewery in Peoria, Illinois, as the plant production manager. Within a few years he was made head maltster in Milwaukee and was assistant superintendent of the malt house and brewhouse. In 1948, he was promoted to superintendent of Pabst's newly-purchased plant in Los Angeles, and remained there until 1956. He was named technical director of Pabst in 1958, and promoted to vice-president of production in 1960. He helped Pabst reformulate its beer, as well as create a new Pabst Blue Ribbon. He continued as vice-president until retiring from Pabst in 1983.

His first wife died in 1978. He married his second wife, Marjean Schaefer, in 1980.