James Milgard, UW Tacoma benefactor and co-leader of local legacy business, dies at 84
James Milgard, the younger of the two brothers who with their father created what ultimately became Milgard Windows & Doors, died Jan. 31 at his home in Indian Wells, California.
He was 84. The cause of death was not disclosed.
More commonly known as Jim, he joined his brother Gary and father, Maury, in 1961 in the family business, Milgard Glass, which was originally launched in 1958 on South Tacoma Way. The company become the largest window manufacturer in the Western United States.
When he started, the 21-year-old Jim Milgard answered phones, handcrafted window screens, drove the delivery truck and helped the glazier. “I did a little of everything, but I’m not sure I did any of it that well,” Milgard told The News Tribune in 2009.
In the 2009 News Tribune interview, the newspaper reported that Jim Milgard did not seek the limelight.
“He’d rather go fly-fishing. Or add to his collection of historic documents signed by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark,” according to the profile. He preferred to let his older brother speak for the family company.
Gary Milgard died in July 2005, age 68, after a battle with cancer. In the book, “The Milgard Story,” Gary said of his and Jim’s roles in the firm: “Suffice it to say, that I’ve been the driving force of the business, while Jim has done a lot of the behind-the-scenes things that have been vitally important.”
As the company grew, the younger Milgard oversaw the expansions, the construction of new plants and evolution into new equipment and technologies.
The family sold their business in 2001 to Masco Corp., a building products company. (Gratz, Pennsylvania-based MI Windows and Doors later purchased the company in 2019.)
The 2001 sale led to civic-focused charitable family foundations set up by Gary and Jim.
One of their biggest legacy projects was becoming benefactors for the University of Washington-Tacoma. An initial $15 million gift to the university established the Milgard School of Business at UW Tacoma. They also endowed the Center for Leadership & Social Responsibility at the campus.
In 2007, Jim Milgard also pledged $2 million toward the campus assembly hall and requested that it be named William W. Philip Hall in honor of a former chief executive officer of Columbia Bank. Philip had also helped to establish the local campus.
The gift was part of a $5 million personal pledge from Milgard to the university that year. His donations put him on the university’s roll of Presidential Laureates along with others including Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen. The roll, displayed in Suzzallo Library on the UW Seattle campus, consists of donors of $10 million or more to the UW system.
“I’m very pleased with the success and the progress of the Milgard School of Business,” Jim Milgard said in 2007. “... That made it more compelling to add to the endowments at the school.”
Sheila Edwards Lange, chancellor of the University of Washington Tacoma, said in a statement to The News Tribune that “Jim Milgard’s generosity and vision, alongside Gary’s, built more than a namesake business school at UW Tacoma — they championed access to educational opportunity in Tacoma and the South Sound.
“While we mourn Jim’s passing, we are also profoundly grateful for the lasting legacy, which will continue to empower graduates to become innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders in the community he loved.”
Jim (as well as Gary) also donated millions to other entities, including local hospitals and the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound.
Jim is survived by his wife, Carolyn Milgard; son, James Milgard Jr. and his wife, Jennifer, their two daughters, Madison and Molly; and daughter, Allison Milgard and her wife, Heather Reid and their sons Jack and Liam.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
