The man who helped create Milwaukee’s well-known “Bronze Fonz” statue has died.
Dave Fantle died on April 21 at the age of 66, according to a statement from Marquette University – where he was adjunct professor in the Diederich College of Communication.
Fantle joined Marquette as an adjunct in 2009, teaching classes on media writing and film and popular culture. He was a recipient of the dean’s award for part-time faculty members in the College of Communication in 2025.
Also, Fantle had a four-decade career in marketing and communications, including senior positions at Visit Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and the United Performing Arts Fund.
While at Visit Milwaukee, a nonprofit that promotes Milwaukee as a travel destination, Fantle helped lead the campaign to fund and create a statue of Arthur Fonzarelli, aka The Fonz – a character in the “Happy Days” TV show set in 1950s Milwaukee.
The brass statue was placed on downtown’s RiverWalk, just south of East Wells Street, in 2008.
That site was chosen after a proposal to locate the statue near the higher-profile corner of East Wisconsin Avenue and North Water Street drew opposition.
The Bronze Fonz had its detractors.
But it won tourism industry marketing awards, Fantle told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl in 2013, and has become a popular spot for visitors to shoot selfies.
Fantle’s enthusiasm for the project was perhaps linked to his love of pop culture.
He co-authored the book “Hollywood Heyday: 75 Candid Interviews with Golden Age Legends,” published in 2018. It included profiles of such stars as Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Debbie Reynolds, and George Burns, according to the Marquette statement.
“We used to joke around school that if someone got famous in Hollywood, Dave would get to meet them,” said Dave Hanneken, a Marquette colleague.
Fantle had smart marketing instincts, said Hanneken, who worked in the advertising profession.
“He knew what moved and motivated people,” Hanneken said.
Fantle earned his bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota in 1983.
“Losing Professor Fantle is a blow for our whole college,” said Sarah Feldner, dean of the Diederich College of Communication. “While we are grieving his loss, we are gratified to know that the impact he made on hundreds of students will live on well into the future. He will be sorely missed.”
Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. April 23 at Congregation Sinai, 8223 N. Port Washington Road, Fox Point, followed by interment at Greenwood Cemetery. Shiva services will be held April 23 and April 25.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) and the Diederich College of Communication.
Survivors include his wife, Cathy, and his children Grace, Maddie, and Max.
(This article was updated to add new information.)
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Obituary: Dave Fantle, who helped create ‘Bronze Fonz’ statue, dies at 66
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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