The Weiser Family at the Weiser Hall dedication in 2014.
In 2014, Ambassador Ronald Weiser and Eileen Lappin Weiser made a $50 million dollar gift to the University of Michigan, $25 million of which is designated for the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED), a member of the International Institute. In recognition of this significant donation, the Regents of the University of Michigan announced that the Dennison Building would be renamed Weiser Hall.
About the Weisers
Ronald Weiser graduated with honors in 1966 from U-M’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business and did graduate work in business and law. In 1968, he founded McKinley Associates Inc., a national real estate investment company and served as its chairman and CEO until 2001 when he became U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic. He currently serves on the boards of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, The Henry Ford, and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the advisory board of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Ross School, the advisory board of the university’s Food Allergy Center, and is Vice Chair of the U-M’s Victors for Michigan Campaign. He was Chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2009-11, National Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011-13, and was again elected Chair of the Michigan Republican Party in 2017. Ambassador Weiser was elected to the University of Michigan Board of Regents in 2016. His term expires January 1, 2025.
With a master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan, Eileen Lappin Weiser has served on the University Musical Society Board of Directors, is a member of the UMS Senate, and is Vice Chair of the U-M’s Victors for Michigan Campaign. She is a past executive director of the McKinley Foundation, and served for eight years on the National Assessment Governing Board. She is serving her second, eight-year term on Michigan’s State Board of Education. Eileen is on the board of the Michigan Science Center and works to advance the arts, digital learning and STEM education in Michigan’s K-12 schools. She also has served as a board member for numerous other community education, arts, and civic affairs organizations.
The Weisers, their children – Marc and his wife, Mary; Elizabeth and her husband, Trey Caswell; their youngest son, Danny – and their five grandchildren, all live in Ann Arbor.
