Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein
American business people From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein (/ˈjuːlaɪn/ YOO-lyne;[1]) are American billionaire owners of business supply company Uline, heirs to the Schlitz brewing fortune,[2] and controversial Republican[3] megadonors.
Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈjuːlaɪn/ YOO-lyne |
| Employer | Uline |
| Political party | Republican |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Uihlein family |
Biographies
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Perspective
Richard Ellis was born to Schlitz beer descendent, and noted conservative, Edgar Uihlein and Lucia Ellis Uihlein.[4][5] Richard graduated from Phillips Andover[6] and then in 1967 from Stanford University with a BA in history.[7] Until 1980, Richard Uihlein worked in international sales for General Binding Corporation, a company co-founded by his father, Edgar Uihlein.[8] Richard Uihlein's cousin is Lynde Bradley Uihlein.[2] He is an avid fishermen, described as "quiet and reserved, and sometimes prickly.".[9][3]
Elizabeth Anne Uihlein was born to Robert Emerson Hallberg, an auto company executive, and Elizabeth Pierce Hallberg of Winnetka, IL.[10] She had a sister, Katherine Hallberg, who passed away in 1997.[10]She speaks of going on to higher education, and is described as "Outgoing and engaging"[11][3]
She is the cousin of Martin Hanson, a Wisconsin Environmentalist who fought for federal protection of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior.[12][13] She speaks fondly of him in her writing, mentioning how her spending summers on his property in Ashland County led to her love of Northern Wisconsin.[12][13]
They are described by Politico as having a "warm and affectionate marriage".[3]Together, they have three children.[14]
The couple's primary residence is in Lake Forest, Illinois, but they own a number of homes and are noted part time residents of Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.[15][9] In 2020, Bloomberg estimated their net worth to be around $4 billion.[16]
Business activities
Uline
In 1980, with start-up funds from Richard's father, Elizabeth and Richard founded Uline, a shipping supplies company; the couple continue to own the company.[17][14] The company expanded rapidly and is now one of the largest U.S. privately held companies; in 2014, Forbes estimated a company value of between $700 million and $2 billion.[14] As of 2020, the company had around 7,000 employees.[18] Their three children hold executive roles within the Uline Corporation, while Elizabeth Uihlein is the company's president and Richard is the CEO.[19][20][14]
EAU Holdings
Elizabeth and Richard own and operate a number of businesses in downtown Manitowish Waters under EAU Holdings Inc, a holding company advertised via the Uline website.[21][22] Business owned by the entity include a gym, a restaurant, various lodgings, a coffee shop, a salon, a spa, and gift shops.[22]
Galectin Therapeutics
Richard Uihlein is the chairman of the board for Galectin Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotech company focusing treatments for chronic liver disease and cancer.[23] Richard is their largest individual stock holder.[24][23]
Political activities
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Views and history
House divided: The megadonor couple battling in the GOP’s civil war
“They come at it from two different perspectives. Dick is ideological and insurgent-focused, and Liz is just more about issues and about mechanics of the campaign and, ‘How are you going to win?’ and ‘What’s your message?’” said Keith Gilkes, a longtime Wisconsin-based GOP strategist. “They’re completely opposite people in terms of the questions and conversations with candidates.”
"“Dick is super hard core, and his wife is not so much,” said former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, a past Dick Uihlein ally who was elected in the 2010 conservative wave. Candidates from “the hard right and the tea party and blow it up and burn it down — those were the kind of politicians that Dick always supported. His wife was a bit more establishment. So, they would often disagree on certain candidates.”"
Politico
Richard
Richard's father Edgar Uihlein was a prominent conservative figure in the 1960s and 1970s. He sat on the finance committee for the John Birch Society, donated to the presidential campaign of segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace, and supported Gen. Edwin Walker who led an insurrection in response to the racial integration of the University of Mississippi.[25][26]
Richard Uihlein has been a Republican donor for decades, and increased his political giving after Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.[8] He has been a longtime donor to Republicans who share his ultra-conservative views.[14] Richard is a staunch social and economic conservative,[27] with views that are anti-union,[18][19][27] anti-tax,[18][27] and pro-deregulation.[27] He has a history of supporting conservative [14] candidates, and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights as well as abortion.[15] Richard Uihlein has been described as a person who "shuns the spotlight";[19] he rarely gives interviews.[18]
Elizabeth
Elizabeth speaks of her mother as a liberal and her father as a conservative.[28] She claims to have held liberal beliefs prior to beginning her relationship with Richard, and voted for Bill Clinton twice, but has since adopted hardline conservative politics.[29]
Like her husband, Elizabeth rarely gives interviews, but she does frequently make statements about her political views in a column that is included in the Uline catalog and on the Uline website.[18][30] Past columns have had topics ranging from "the danger of Chinese competition, the negative health effects of marijuana use and the detriments of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy."[31]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Elizabeth Uihlein said the pandemic was "overhyped" and was an outspoken critic of stay-at-home directives issued to combat the spread of the virus In November 2020.[18]
In December of 2024 and February of 2025, the Guardian reported details of an allegedly well established scheme wherein Uline was bringing workers from their warehouses in Mexico to work shifts at their warehouses in the U.S without work visas and stated that Elizabeth would have been aware of the program.[32][33]Her husband Richard is known to have run attack ads on the subject of illegal immigration.[34]
Elizabeth Uihlein focuses her donations on the main GOP organizations, such as the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, and National Republican Congressional Committee.[35]
National politics
Uihlein is the biggest donor to Women Speak Out PAC, a group seeking a federal abortion ban.[36] Uihlein has also donated millions to Restoration PAC, which promotes "all marriage is for one man and one woman for life."[36] He has supported conservative groups and candidates including Ted Cruz, Roy Moore, The Club for Growth, and the Illinois Policy Institute.[17][8][15][37] Uihlein is also a major donor to Liberty Principles PAC,[38] Americas PAC,[39] and Scott Walker.[40]
2014 Election Cycle
In the 2014 election cycle, the Uihleins made at least $5 million in political contributions, mostly to right-wing PACs ($1.8 million to Liberty Principles PAC; $670,000 to Americas PAC, and slightly under $500,000 to Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund and affiliated super PAC).[14]
2016 Election Cycle
The Uihleins gave $22 million in the 2016 election cycle.[19] In the 2016 Republican primaries, Uihlein initially supported Scott Walker and Ted Cruz; after they both dropped out of the race, Uihlein backed Donald Trump,[19] contributing money to the pro-Trump "Great America PAC" and contributing $500,000 to Trump's inauguration,[27] which he attended.[19] He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee.[19]
2018 Election Cycle
In the 2018 election cycle, Richard dramatically increased his political contributions,[19] making $37.7 million in contributions to outside spending groups (the fourth largest donor to such groups).[41] His contributions include support for many Republican candidates in competitive primary races,[19] such as Ives[19][27] and Chris McDaniel.[19][27] Also in 2018, Uihlein gave financial support to Kevin Nicholson, a one time long-shot Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin; eight super PACs funded by Uihlein also expressed support for Nicholson.[27] They contributed $4 million to the Fair Courts America PAC.[42]
Donations to Roy Moore pre and post sexual assault allegations
Richard supported Roy Moore in his race to be an Alabama senator.[43] This support began on September 8th, 2017, prior to Roy Moore's sexual misconduct allegations coming to light, with a contribution of $50,000 to Moore's PAC, the Proven Conservative PAC.[43] On November 22nd, 2017, after multiple women, some of whom where underage at the time of the alleged offence, had come forward accusing Moore of sexual assault, Richard donated another $50,000 to the Proven Conservative PAC.[43]
Pay for play newspapers
From 2016 to 2018, a political action committee funded by the Uihleins gave at least $646,000 to a new network of free newspapers and websites, created by Brian Timpone, that mimic local newspapers but offer pay-for-play articles to conservative clients.[44]
2020 Election Cycle
In the 2020 election cycle, the Uihleins and their company had, by April 2020, contributed $1.5 million to Trump's "America First Action" super PAC, and $20 million to other Republican groups.[18][45]
Trump's 2020 Election Night Party Speculations
In November 2020, the Uihleins announced to their company that they had contracted COVID.[46][47] News media speculated that they had acquired the virus by attending Trump's White House election result watch party.[48][49][50] This was conjectured by journalists based on their personal jet flying into DC for the evening of the election and a string of Covid infections that befell known attendees.[50][48] Elizabeth insisted that they had not attended party and had instead contracted it through a friend.[48]
Relationship to Jan 6th Insurrection
Uihlein was a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 attack on the Capitol.[36] From 2015 to 2020, they donated $4.3 million (including $800,000 in October 2020) to Tea Party Patriots, a group that participated in the March to Save America rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[51]
Following the news that the Uihlein's where a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Northwestern University reviewed their contract with Uline at the behest of a university donor[36][52] Upon conclusion of the review, the university elected to continue their contract with the company.[53]
2022 Election Cycle
During the 2022 election cycle they contributed to the U.S. Senate campaigns of Herschel Walker, Ron Johnson, and Adam Laxalt.[54] Other politicians supported by the Uihleins include Georgia representative Jody Hice and Texas representative Louie Gohmert.[55]
2024 Election Cycle
As of October 2024, Richard Uihlein had given nearly $59 million in 2024 to Restoration PAC, a leading pro-Trump super PAC that is active in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia.[56]
State politics
Richard is a significant supporter of the Foundation for Government Accountability, a think tank that has worked to relax child labor laws in 22 states, notably including Arkansas, Iowa, and Florida.[57]
The campaign has seen success in Florida, where the uihlein's have a distribution center.[58][59]
Arkansas
In September 2022 of Richard donated 750,000 dollars to help defeat a ballot question that would legalize recreational marijuana in the state.[60]
Wisconsin
The Uihleins spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2011 Wisconsin Senate recall elections, in support of state senators facing recall over their support for legislation to end collective bargaining for public employees, and also backed litigation against public-employee unions, including Janus v. AFSCME.[19] During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Elizabeth called upon Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature to push to remove Governor Tony Evers from office over the stay-at-home directives he had issued.[18]
Illinois
Richard Uihlein spent $2.6 million in support of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in his successful 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election campaign, Uihlein broke with Rauner after he signed legislation in 2017 that expanded abortion coverage for women on Medicaid;[27] Uihlein gave millions to Jeanne Ives, who challenged Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary.[27][8]
During 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election; Richard Uihlein gave more than $42 million to "People Who Play By The Rules PAC",[61][62] a super PAC that ran attack ads against Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to boost the candidacy of his opponent, Republican nominee Darren Bailey.[61][63] The super PAC was operated by Republican operative and talk radio host Dan Proft.[63] Richard Uihlein also gave $10 million directly to Bailey's campaign.[63]
Ohio
During Ohio's 2023 August special election cycle, Richard Uihlein donated $4 million to a PAC supporting Issue 1, an effort to require a 60% majority to pass citizen-initiated constitutional amendments.[64] The measure was defeated by a 57% to 43% margin.[65]
Pennsylvania
During the 2022 election cycle, the Uihleins were the largest donors to Doug Mastriano's 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign.[66]
Texas
Between 2019 and 2020, Uihlein gave $250,000 to Allen West in his campaign for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party against incumbent James Dickey.[41]
Local Politics
Richard and Elizabeth own a number of houses throughout the United States and frequently inject themselves into local politics via large donations to city governments wherein they own homes.[6][67]
Richard and Elizabeth's primary residence is in Lake Forest, Illinois, but they also own residential property in Lake Bluff.[68] Richard and Elizabeth own two lake houses in Wisconsin, one in Manitowish Waters and one in Hayward on Kavanagh Bay.[67][69] Elizabeth is heavily involved in the politics and commerce of Manitowish Waters via EAU Holdings.[67][8] The couple owns multiple properties in Florida.[6][9]
The Uihelins contributed $3.2 million to the American Principles Project PAC between 2020 and 2022, which ran campaign ads for school board races with messages against transgender "ideology" and critical race theory.[70]
Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Elizabeth is heavily involved in politics and economy of Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, where she and Richard own a large summerhouse on Spider Lake. In reference to her work in the town, she has stated, "I'm 'up north,' my husband's political,".[71]
Her investment in area businesses began with the purchase of a motel in 1998 as a "defensive move" against a Pakistani buyer who was rumored to be interested.[6] She claims that under his management the motel would have been "doomed to fail".[6] Elizabeth has stated that her operations in the town are not profitable as of 2015.[72]
It is estimated that Elizabeth and Richard invested 6.5 million dollars in the town between 2007 and 2015.[73] In January of 2018, $1.15 million was pledged by the couple to the Wisconsin DNR for the purposes of maintaining and expanding bike paths in Manitowish Waters.[74] Elizabeth has since donated to Manitowish Waters Bike Trail Inc via the LUMW Foundation, giving 71,383 USD in 2022.[75]
Agreements giving Elizabeth considerable control over Rest Lake Park and local trails have been highly contentious amongst area residents.[73] Complaints commonly center around the park and trails having an overly manicured appearance with residents and officials offering complaints of trails having too much grass on the margins of trails and too many trees being removed from the park.[73]
Elizabeth has been known to offer advice on how to improve the aesthetics of businesses in Manitowish Waters to their owners in conjunction with offers to pay for the repairs herself.[73][76]
Rest Lake Lodge
Unpermitted clear cutting was performed at the Rest Lake Lodge, one of the businesses owned by their EAU entity, in August of 2015.[77] In addition to the work being unpermitted, it was also found to have violated rules related to removing trees near a body of water.[78]Elizabeth's attorney blamed the cutting on her contractor being ignorant of local regulations, but acknowledges that it was her idea.[78] Under a restitution plan approved in October 2015, the Uihleins where required to revegetate the area and pay a 750 dollar fine.[79][78]
Also in 2015, Elizabeth motioned to purchase the lake frontage connect to the same property from the Wisconsin DNR after it was made available for sale following actions of the Republican led state legislature under Gov. Scott Walker, a conservative politician the Uihleins had heavily supported.[80] Due to critiques of the sale centering around price and the frontage connecting two other protected wooded areas, the sale was tabled in September of 2015, but in August 2016 a revised version of the deal including a land and frontage swap was approved.[81][82][83]
An unapproved 500 foot long trail on the DNR land parcel sought by the Uihleins was discovered in the second half of 2015.[84] Elizabeth denied creation of the trail, but said that her employees may have preformed light cleaning of the area.[84]
Hayward, Wisconsin
In 2016 and 2015, Richard attempted to form an agreement with Utility company Xcel Energy, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to have a Floating bog that was blocking the dock to his home in Hayward on Kavanagh Bay nailed down to the bed of the lake.[67][69] Traditionally, when the floating bogs become a nuisance to boaters, they are pushed away by area residents with their boats.[85]
Their son, Duke Uihlein, who owns a home near Hayward, successfully sued the town of Spider Lake in December of 2022 claiming that the town did not have standing to impose restriction on hours or speed of boat operation.[86][87]
Everglades City, Florida
ProPublica published 290 pages of emails between Uline staff and city officials in Everglades City, Florida where Richard owns a home he uses for sport fishing.[9][88][6] ProPublica highlighted an email to the city clerk that a man had rinsed himself off on Richard's dock and may have urinated off the edge.[88][6]The emails detail a number of sizeable donations to the town.[88] It is reported that in the wake of hurricane Irma, Elizabeth Uihlein offered a number of ideas for improvements to the town that where met with mixed reception.[9]
Lake Bluff and Lake Forest, Illinois
In June of 2023, the Uihlein's petitioned for a two year exemption on a seasonal ban on the use of leaf blowers for their home in Lake Bluff, Il.[89] The regulation contained such an exemption for public properties, like parks, that where more than twenty acres in size, and they argued that their home should qualify as it was 22 acres in size.[89] Their request was denied.[89]
They own homes in both Lake Forest and Lake Bluff.[89]
Richard donated to elect a group of school board members for the district that included the "chief critic" of Lake Forest High School's first black principal, Chala Holland.[15][90] In regards to Holland, a critique of academic tracking,[91] Richard wrote, "I cannot sit by and watch the current administration sacrifice open, honest communication, sacrifice academic excellence and sacrifice my tax dollars,"[15].
Palatine, Illinois
Richard donated money to community groups and school board campaigns that sought a roll-back of policies that allowed students to use school facilities consistent with their gender identities.[92][15]
Involvement in conservative media
In the lead up to 2014 senate race in Texas, Richard donated $450,571.65 to finance a newspaper that pushed fake stories against stockman's opponent Senator John Cornyn, suggesting that he "wanted to ban veterans from having guns, had voted to fund abortion, and was secretly working with Democrats to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.".[93][94] This was discovered due to the fact that the donation was investigated as an attempt by stockman to subvert limits on coordinated campaign spending.[93]
Richard Uihlein has had a long standing financial relationship with conservative newspaper producer Brian Timpone.[44] Since 2004, Timpone has worked to build a network of locally published free internet and print news.[95] These newspapers and newspapers often employ names that are similar to respected local institutions, but are in reality entirely unaffiliated.[96] The articles he publish frequently reference real events, but he has been accused of frequently taking the facts around those events and severely distorting them to the ends of creating extreme emotional responses in his readers.[95] Timpone's companies have been know to offer pay-for-play articles to conservative clients.[44]
From 2016 to 2018, a political action committee funded by the Uihleins gave at least $646,000 to a new network of free newspapers and websites, created by Brian Timpone[44]
People Who Play By The Rules PAC, which contributed money to Timpone's operations during the 2022 Illinois races, received more than $42 million from Richard Uihlein.[97][61][62] During the lead up to the 2022 elect Timpone's operations blanketed the state in confusingly titled free newspapers that attacked JB Pritzker and other Illinois Democrats.[97]
In October of 2024, in the lead up to the 2024 General Election, Propublica traced a newspaper delivered to Wisconsinites entitled, "The Wisconsin Catholic Tribune", which was unaffiliated with the Catholic Church and painted Trump as pro-catholic and Biden as anti-catholic to Timpone and Uihlein.[98] The company producing the newspapers, which is owned by Timpone, was paid by Restoration PAC, which had received $125 million from Richard between 2020 and the publishing of the article.[98]
Richard is a supporter of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization with a strong media arm that was formed in 2012.[99][100] Between 2014 and 2016, Richard donated $275,000 to them.[101] On January 13th, 2020 shortly after the insurrection, Richard donated 250,000 dollars to the organization.[102]
RealClearPolitics and The Federalist are also significant recipients of funds from the Ed Uihlein foundatation.[103][104]
Philanthropy
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Perspective
Elizabeth
Elizabeth operates the LUMW Foundation.[105] The foundation primarily gives to organizations in the Northern suburbs of Chicago and in and around Manitowish Waters.[105]
Richard
Richard operates the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation.[106] He frequently donates to think tanks and nonprofits such as the Conservative Partnership Institute, Turning Point USA, Sons of Liberty, the Center for Security Policy,[107] Liberty Justice Center, and Think Freely Media.[108] In addition to this, the foundation gives to schools, clinics, churches, Uline's scholarship fund, and environmental causes .[109]
Through his foundation, Richard made $40 million in grants between 2013 and 2016 to organizations such as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Media Research Center, the Leadership Institute, and the Philanthropy Roundtable.[110] The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation has also donated to the American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, the Institute for Free Speech, and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.[110]
Involvement with Rep. Steve Stockman and Freedom House
In January of 2013 Richard gave 350,000 dollars to Rep Steve Stockman and his congressional aid Thomas Dodd for "Freedom House" a facility that, ""would serve as a meeting place, dormitory and training facility for young [republican] people," that was supposedly connected nonprofit called the Congressional Freedom Foundation, which did not exist and was never formed.[111][112][113] Stockman and Dodd used all of the money for self promotion and self enrichments, none was used to fund Freedom House.[111][112]
In Stockman's indictment it is included that, in February of 2013, Richard donated $450,571.65 to finance a newspaper that pushed fake stories against his stockman's opponent Senator John Cornyn, suggesting that he "wanted to ban veterans from having guns, had voted to fund abortion, and was secretly working with Democrats to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.".[93][94] The paper was produced by a nonprofit named the Center for the American Future, which was controlled by Stockman's Aid Jason Posey, which lead to allegations of Posey subverting campaign finance donation limits on coordinated spending.[93]
References
External links
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