Walter Michael Gretschel

Mike was a proud native Washingtonian. He was an alumnus of Holy Redeemer Catholic School, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, and the University of Maryland, where he studied statistics.

He began his long career in advertising and fundraising after college, working for the National Rifle Association and The Richard A. Viguerie Company before starting his own firm, Market Development Group (MDG), with his partner. Under his leadership, MDG has raised many millions of dollars for diabetes, cancer, and kidney disease research, animal welfare causes, and life-saving humanitarian efforts in the United States, and around the world.

In 1993, after two of his children were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Mike co-founded the Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation. DRWF has opened affiliates in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, to support suffering patients while raising much-needed funds to promote ground-breaking research towards the cure.

Mike was an adventurous world traveler and outdoorsman. He was extremely proud of hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and back to the top) six times, and he was an enthusiastic fisherman. More than once he remarked that it was a shame that he wasn’t born a hundred years earlier, as he had no doubt that he would have been an excellent cowboy. His love of old western movies and novels attest to this heartfelt belief.

He was a devout and devoted parishioner of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and gave his time and expertise to help raise critical funds for major projects and capital campaigns. He was also extraordinarily proud of the time he spent serving on the Board of Directors of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, and Spring Point Project.

Survivors include Maureen, his beloved wife of 54 years, and their four children, Christian Gretschel (Gerry) of Washington, DC, Andrea Stancik (Mark) of Rockville, Kara Clark (Richard) of Milton, Massachusetts, and Patrick Gretschel (Katie) of Bethesda, and 14 grandchildren, who lovingly knew him as “Big Mike.”

The viewing will be held at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington, DC on Thursday, December 19 at 10:00 am. The funeral mass will follow at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation at https://www.diabeteswellness.net/donate