Source: Wisconsin State Journal
By: Doug Erickson
Date: April 29th 2004

Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B3

Emmy Award-winning television star Bradley Whitford, a graduate of Madison East High School, is scheduled to headline a May 17 luncheon to raise money for the city's public schools.

Whitford, who will speak at UW-Madison graduation ceremonies May 15 and 16, offered to stay in town an extra day for the fund raiser, said Jodi Bender Sweeney, president of the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools.

"It's not costing us a nickel to bring him here," she said. "This is very, very generous of him."

Whitford portrays White House deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman on NBC's "The West Wing," a role that won him a 2003* Emmy.

"He has always been effusive in his praise for the role East High School played in his theater experience and in building confidence in himself," said Steve Goldberg, executive director of the CUNA Mutual Group Foundation, one of the underwriters for the May 17 luncheon.

Goldberg is a family friend, dating back to when Whitford's father was a senior executive at CUNA Mutual Group.

"From the very outset, (Whitford) said this was something he really wanted to do," Goldberg said. "It was just a matter of working out his schedule."

Whitford lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle" and their children, Frances and George.

The luncheon will be from noon to 1:45 p.m. at the Exhibition Hall of the Alliant Center. Tickets are $40 a person and $300 for a table of eight. They can be purchased through The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools at 232-7820.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises money for projects that fall outside the Madison School District's regular operating budget.

*Webmaster note: Bradley actually won that Emmy in 2001.

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[ FMPS Luncheon ]