After graduating from college in 1949, Marvin Schwan went to work with the family dairy and dramatically expanded it over a period of decades into a huge food-service company. At the end of his life, Schwan created a nearly billion-dollar foundation by giving it two thirds of his company in 1993. The foundation, like Schwan himself, has maintained a low profile throughout its existence. But it has operated as a bulwark of traditional Lutheranism in America.
Schwan instructed his foundation trustees to support seven Lutheran organizations, including five evangelical organizations and two colleges. These groups have received hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from the foundation in the years since. The churches, missions, and schools of the conservative Lutheran faith have thus been strengthened and perpetuated into the future.
- Facts about the Schwan Foundation, faqs.org/tax-exempt/MO/Marvin-M-Schwan-Charitable-Foundation.html#b