Robert C. “R.C.” Schmidt Jr., the Milwaukee hospitality operator who opened the city’s first brewpub and built a family restaurant group that spanned downtown Water Street, the East Side, and the suburbs, has died. He was 76.
His family announced that Schmidt died Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. He was founder and chairman of 4th Street Management and founder of Water Street Brewery.
Born in St. Louis and raised in Milwaukee, Schmidt attended Dominican High School and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His working life was almost entirely local. In 1974, at 24, he opened R.C.’s on the East Side. The neighborhood bar lasted 44 years and became the seed of a company that would own taverns, restaurants, brewpubs, and festival food operations.
In the early 1980s he ran several area Chuck E. Cheese franchises before returning to independent restaurants. On Nov. 7, 1987, he opened Water Street Brewery, combining on-site brewing with a full-service kitchen—Milwaukee’s first brewpub. The concept later expanded to Delafield, Grafton, and Oak Creek. In 2022 the original downtown location was renovated and reintroduced as The Brewery.
Photo: onmilwaukee.com
Brewery Spelunking: Water Street Brewery
Over more than five decades, Schmidt created, bought, or operated a long list of Milwaukee-area places: R.C.’s, Water Street Brewery, The Brewery, Louise’s Trattoria, Andrew’s Bar & Restaurant, the Historic Turner Restaurant, River House, Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant, Brew City BBQ, Trinity Three Irish Pubs, The Harp Irish Pub, Oakland Trattoria, SoLo Pizza, The Black Rose Irish Pub, Monster Pizza MKE, and Vagabond. The company also ran food and beverage at the Wisconsin State Fair and Summerfest.
In 2008, Milwaukee Downtown named him a “downtown visionary” for the scale of what he built and for his support of the central city.
His son Matt Schmidt, CEO and COO of 4th Street Management, said his father treated restaurants as part of a city’s identity. “He believed in Milwaukee, he believed in taking care of people, and he was never above doing any job himself,” Matt Schmidt said. “The greatest measure of his success was not the number of businesses he opened, but the employees, guests and families whose lives became connected through them.”
R.C.’s closed in 2018 after nearly half a century; the family marked its 50th anniversary in 2024 with a party at The Brewery. The group continues to operate Trinity Three Irish Pubs, The Harp Irish Pub, The Brewery, and Water Street Brewery locations in Delafield, Grafton, and Oak Creek.
A cause of death and funeral arrangements were not included in the family’s announcement.
