NYT.com reported today that a $5 million donation from Milwaukee's own, Chris Abele, will help build a new theater in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. The gift to the Royal Shakespeare Company is the largest gift from an American in the company's history.

The story notes, "the gift is part of a $25 million fund-raising campaign by the Royal Shakespeare Company America, an 11-year-old American organization created to support the British theater company."

The story also notes Abele's love for Milwaukee:

"Mr. Abele grew up outside of Boston, but after attending college in Wisconsin decided to stay there. When his father, John Abele, a founderof the biotech company Boston Scientific, asked Chris to run thefamily's philanthropic efforts, he agreed on one condition: that theArgosy Foundation be based in Milwaukee."

"I wouldn't live anywhere else," Mr. Abele (pronounced AY-buh-lee) told NYT.com reporter Campbell Robertson.

Abele was profiled in a 2005 OnMilwaukee.com "Milwaukee Talks" by Molly Snyder Edler.