Lisette Schandein, (1848–1905) aka Lisette Best Schandein, Lizette Best, Elizabeth Best, Elizabeth Best Schandein, and Lizette Best Schandein was the first vice-president of

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over ...

. She held the position from 1888 through 1894.

History

Lisette was a daughter of Major General Phillip Best who owned a brewery in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Her father became closely acquainted with Captain

Frederick Pabst Johann Gottlieb Friedrich "Frederick" Pabst (March 28, 1836 – January 1, 1904) was a German-American brewer for whom the Pabst Brewing Company was named. Biography Early life Pabst was born on March 28, 1836, in the village of Nikolausrieth, ...

due to his frequent travels on the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

ship Captain Frederick Pabst captained. Her father introduced Pabst to her older sister, Maria Best. In 1862, the two were married. In 1864, Frederick Pabst bought half of the operation of her father's brewery and became vice-president. In 1866, Lisette married Emil Schandein, and her father sold the remaining half of the business to her husband, making Frederick Pabst president, and her husband vice-president. Emil and Lisette began building a 40,000 square foot mansion on Grand Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Emil had even imported the architect from Germany to recreate a castle he had seen in Bingen, Germany. In 1888, Emil Schandein unexpectedly died in Germany, and he was never able to see the house fully completed. Lisette took over as vice-president of the company which she remained until 1894. In 1903, she left Milwaukee and returned to Germany, where she died after suffering a stroke, leaving her $7,800,000 estate to be fought over in court by her remaining children, Mrs. Jacob Heyl (Clara), Mrs. Louis Frank, and her deaf son, Emil M. Schandein. The court case made national headlines due to the testimony that took place in regards to Lisette's long term affair with Jacob Heyl who had somehow arranged to be executor of the will, while also inheriting the bulk of the wealth. Schandein and Heyl's affair was able to be kept hidden through a sham marriage arranged between him and one of her daughters. When her daughter died, a second marriage had been arranged for Heyl with another one of her daughters, Clara, who divorced Heyl in 1907.https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19140924&id=KIUWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6SAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4346,4857760

References

* http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2015/11/03/yesterdays-milwaukee-love-nest-of-a-beer-baroness Businesspeople from Milwaukee American people of German descent American drink industry businesspeople American brewers 1848 births 1905 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople {{Wisconsin-bio-stub