George H. Kerckhove                                                    

George Kerckhove grew up on a farm in northern Wisconsin. He received four degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Agricultural Engineering and Business. For the next thirty-eight years, he worked in various management positions, for the Trane Company and American Standard. His career covered twenty-five years in La Crosse, three years in Europe, and ten years in New Jersey, with responsibilities covering twenty-one countries around the world. On his retirement in 2000, he and his wife Sharon returned to the La Crosse area to a 47-acre hobby farm. They enjoy spending time with their six adult children and ten grandchildren. In 2008, they put a conservation agreement on their 200 acre recreational land near Onalaska. George has served on several boards, including American Standard, Merix Corp, La Crosse Community Theatre, United Fund for the Arts, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, and the Mississippi Valley Conservancy.