An Independent Spirit: The Quiet, Generous Life of Helen Daniels Bader brings into sharp focus the story of one of Milwaukee's most beloved and magnanimous benefactors. Enhanced with 280 images - most from family collections - it details Helen Bader's remarkable touching journey - one steeped in a lifetime of humility, determination, resistance and empathy for others, that played out amid years of personal disappointment and sorrow. Rising to the challenges thrown her way, Helen set an example that persists today as a model well worth emulating.

Her legacy is significant. The $100 million Helen Bader Foundation was established in 1991, two years after her death; over the next 24 years, it awarded $250 million in grants to enhance the well-being of the impoverished and disadvantaged. That mission continues today at Bader Philanthropies, Inc. Her life - and specifically her belief in the value of social work - is further immortalized through the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.