Jim Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald graduated from high school and attended Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio and Notre Dame in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, where he earned a bachelor's degree in naval science in 1947. He also held honorary Ph.D.s from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and Baldwin-Wallace College. He married Marilyn Cullen of Janesville on August 1, 1950, at Notre Dame's Old College Chapel. In 1952, he was called up for service in the Korean War as Navy paymaster on the USS Siboney, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia.

After graduating cum laude, from Notre Dame he briefly joined Standard Oil. In 1948 he began his business career with a partner, Fred Weber. They became the Shell Oil jobbers for Janesville, Wisconsin, opening their first gas station on North Parker Drive. The business grew quickly, adding gas stations and car washes. In the late 1950s, Fitzgerald began building shopping centers with his brother-in-law, J. P. Cullen. In the early 1960s, he built the first Holiday Inn in Janesville with other investors, including Cullen and the Ryan brothers, both owners of construction firms, and expanded to six other cities.

The Fitzgerald group later bought into banks and cable television franchises in Janesville (Total TV, Inc.) and Madison, Wisconsin. The cable operations were eventually sold to Jones Intercable (now part of Comcast) and TCI. In the early 1980s, Total TV expanded throughout Wisconsin to include 40 cities.

In 1975, Fitzgerald led a group of investors that bought Milwaukee Professional Sports and Service, Inc., the parent company of the NBA Milwaukee Bucks. Fitzgerald became chairman of the NBA's television committee. He and Bud Selig founded the pay-per-view Sportsvue cable channel in Milwaukee, which carried Bucks and Brewers games throughout Wisconsin. The network's failure after 10 months of operation was a major contributing factor in Fitzgerald's sale of the franchise.

In the late 1990s, Fitzgerald was involved with SoftSpikes, a soft plastic replacement cleat for golf shoes. SoftSpikes was founded by Rob O'Loughlin, Fitzgerald's son-in-law. Fitzgerald was involved in several startup ventures, including LaserLink Golf, another O'Loughlin startup, and the manufacturer of a laser distance measuring device for golfers, run by O'Loughlin.

Fitzgerald and his wife, Marilyn, had six children. He died on June 4, 2012, aged 86, at his home in Janesville. Marilyn died on December 17, 2019.