Tau Kappa Epsilon
Lambda Chapter // University of Wisconsin-Madison
Retired
While an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Rob Weigend was initiated into the Zeta Zeta Chapter of TKE, where he served as Prytanis. After graduating in 1973, he attended the Law School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, during which time he was co-founder and Prytanis of Lambda Chapter. He graduated from law school in 1975, and began his law career in Milwaukee.
In the mid-1980s, he visited the TKE house in Madison, and discovered the house was in very poor condition, and the chapter was about to disband. At that time, he attended a Lambda Chapter Building Corporation board meeting, and was surprised to find the board was on the verge of voting to sell the TKE House due to all the problems. He convinced the board to delay its vote for one month to give him a chance to find a way to keep the house. He quickly brought together his fraternity brothers from the 1970s, including Fritz Jacobi and Mike Radoff, to form a new board to save the house. Afterwards, Lambda Chapter became inactive, and the board rented the TKE house to another fraternity for several years until Lambda Chapter could be re-chartered and moved back into the TKE House. Rob continued to serve on the Board for many years after that, preserving the house by refinancing, conducting major repairs and upgrades, and overseeing house management.
Rob’s career included work as a lawyer, lobbyist, retailer, real estate broker and journalist. As a lawyer, he was a member of the Wisconsin, Virginia and Maryland State Bar Associations, and over the years he concentrated in outer-space law, in matters involving communications and remote-sensing satellites, launch vehicles, space ports and international law (for clients including NASA and COMSAT), as well as in matters involving general practice law. Rob was managing partner in a lobbying firm in Washington DC during the 1980-90s, representing clients such as trade associations before the Congress and federal agencies. From 1991 through 2015, Rob owned and operated a retail game company called Game Parlor, which had two stores in Northern Virginia, selling games, books and comics, as well as large game rooms used to host tournaments, leagues, and open gaming. He also owned and operated a residential real estate firm in Madison during the late 1970s, and served as an editor in several publications including Satellite Communications magazine. Rob is now retired, and lives with his wife Cindy in Southport, North Carolina.