Spotlight on Rick Chandler

10 Questions with Rick

I grew up in the Milwaukee area and in Brantford, Ontario, where we lived for three years. I moved to Madison in 1985, after college and law school and several years of work. I’m a member of the sixth generation of my family to live in Dane County.

I’m married to Heidi Pankoke and we have twin daughters who both graduated from college in 2021.

I retired in 2019 after spending the majority of my career working for the State of Wisconsin. I enjoy reading, bicycling and travel (especially train travel, which included a month-long circumnavigation of the United States on Amtrak in 2019). My volunteer activities include work with the Madison Public Library Foundation and Downtown Madison, Inc. 

1.    What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?

Bicycling.

2.    What are you listening to/reading these days? 

I mostly read history books, biographies and travel-related books.

3.    What is your greatest fear? 

Missing out on interesting things to see and do.

4.    Where is your favorite place to be? 

Wisconsin.

5.    What is your favorite thing to do? 

Travel.

6.    Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why? 

Great Britain, with its mix of history, great cities, villages and scenic countryside.

7.    What’s the most unique job you’ve ever had? 

Working as a railroad dining car waiter on Amtrak, based in Chicago (a summer job during law school).

8.    You’re hosting a dinner party. Who are the 3 people, living or dead, who you would invite and why?

My mother and her parents.  My maternal grandparents had fascinating lives but they both died early so I didn’t get a chance to know them.

9.    What's one thing about you that surprises people? 

I’ve gone on solo bicycle trips across Wisconsin and Europe and through India and Southeast Asia (many years ago).

10. What do you think people should know about the Madison Trust?

It’s easy to get involved as a volunteer.