C. Brate Bryant

C. Brate Bryant passed away peacefully at the Avalon Square in Waukesha, Wisconsin on May 12, 2022 at the age of 96. Brate was born in Biloxi, Mississippi on February 21, 1926 while his family was wintering in the area. He was raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin at the Bryant home on North Barstow Street, which has been in the family for more than a century, and where his father, Henry, founded the Century Fence Company. A graduate of the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, Brate served in the United States Navy for two years prior to attending Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where he was a member of Sigma Phi fraternity and sang tenor in the Cornell Glee Club. In 1950, he earned a degree in electrical engineering. Brate married his hometown sweetheart, Betsy Callow, and in 1959 they moved to North Lake in Hartland, Wisconsin where they raised four children. After developing several patents, he traveled internationally to promote his aquatic weed harvesters, particularly in Egypt and Sudan, where it was used to clear the Nile. Locally, Brate was a devoted environmentalist and recognized early on the importance of harvesting weeds rather than using chemicals, which disrupt the fragile ecosystem of our lakes. Brate is survived by his four children: Nathaniel Bryant, Timothy Bryant, Holly Rathkamp, and Heidi Bryant von Hagke (Mark von Hagke); his eleven grandchildren: Cadence and Caleb (Holly) Bryant; McKenna (Chandler Soto), Christopher (Gwen), Peter and Molly Bryant; Courtney and Kaitlin Rathkamp; Eily Moran (August) Schroeder, Henry and Peter von Hagke; and his nine great-grandchildren: Callow, Lainey and Delia Soto; Jackson, Coraline and Maeve Bryant; Hadley and Gibson Bryant; Caleb Esser. Brate is also survived by his brother, Tony Bryant of Waukesha, Wisconsin. He was preceded in death by his wife, Betsy.