Thomas G. Ragatz specialized in working with clients in matters of taxation, business structuring and transactions, real estate and management issues and estate planning.
MADISON, WI, May 29, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Thomas George Ragatz with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mr. Ragatz celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Now retired from his role as a partner and managing partner of Foley and Lardner LLP, Mr. Ragatz specialized in working with clients in matters of taxation, business structuring and transactions, real estate and management issues and estate planning. He also focused much of his career representing clients in tax and commercial litigation. Employed with Foley and Lardner between 1978 and 2002, Mr. Ragatz also served as a managing partner between 1984 and 1993. A recognized international law firm, it is the oldest and largest in the state of Wisconsin.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Ragatz found success as an associate and partner at Boardman Suhr Curry and Field in Madison, Wisconsin, and a law clerk for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He likewise served as an instructor at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in the school of business. Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Ragatz initially worked as a staff accountant at a local accounting firm in Minneapolis in 1958.
Leveraging his expertise, Mr. Ragatz has lectured at various seminars on various tax subjects. He was the president of the Wisconsin Sports Development Corporation and the Courtier Foundation and a member of the board of directors of the United Way Foundation, the Wisconsin Sports Foundation, the Norman Bassett Foundation, the Sub-Zero Freezer Company and the Wolf Appliance Company LLC. Mr. Ragatz also wrote regularly, contributing articles to various legal publications. What's more, he notably authored "History of the Practice of Law in Dane County" and a book on his family history in 1989, titled "The Ragatz History."
A community leader for several years, Mr. Ragatz sat on the board of directors for the Metropolitan YMCA in Madison from 1983 to 1990. He has since represented the Business and Educational Partnership as the president, the Hospice Care Foundation as the president, vice president and a board director, and in various other leading roles for the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the First Congregational Church and other local organizations. Mr. Ragatz served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves as well.
An alumnus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Mr. Ragatz received a Bachelor of Arts in business administration in 1957. He later acquired a Bachelor of Laws in 1961, when he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as the editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Law Review from 1960 to 1961 and as the chairman of the National Conference of Law Reviews from 1960 to 1961. Mr. Ragatz was since admitted to practice by the Wisconsin Bar Association, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, the U.S. Tax Court and the Supreme Court of the United States, and is a certified public accountant.
Aligned with numerous law related organizations, Mr. Ragatz is an active member and officer of several local, state and national bar associations, the American Judicature Society, the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants and, among others, a member of the Madison-based Business and Educational Partnership. Very active with the Dane County Bar Association, he was a member of the board of governors, chairman of the section of taxation and the finance committee, secretary and president. Furthermore, Mr. Ragatz is an elected fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Mr. Ragatz has proudly won numerous tax cases and has represented cases from the Dane County Small Claims Court all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2019, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the school of business.
He established the Tom and Karen Ragatz Distinguished Chair in Law and Accounting, which created a course in accounting for lawyers between the UBW Law School and the UW Business School. He has given the opening lecture in that course each fall.
A celebrated Marquis listee, Mr. Ragatz has been featured in over 40 editions of Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in the Midwest and Who's Who in the World.
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