In 1952, Grainger joined his father’s company, W.W. Grainger. He became the CEO and chair of the industrial supply and distribution firm in 1968. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he led major expansions throughout the company. He stepped down as CEO in 1997, retired as a director in 2007, and served as a senior adviser until 2015. In 1979, David took the helm of The Grainger Foundation, a charitable nonprofit founded by the family in 1949.
Grainger and his wife, Juli Plant Grainger, built and maintained a strong philanthropic base that led to the transformational support of the Wisconsin School of Business. They donated nearly $13 million for the construction of WSB’s home since 1993, Grainger Hall; more than $20 million for the building’s expansion; and $6 million to the Wisconsin School of Business Naming Partnership. WSB credits these many investments with helping the school to draw top-tier talent into faculty ranks.
The family also established an endowment to launch the Grainger Center for Supply Chain Management at WSB in the 1990s, the first of its kind in the nation. Over the years, they gifted nearly $10 million to build a one-of-a-kind program launching hundreds of students on supply chain career paths.
Grainger, a UW–Madison engineering graduate, passed away in January 2025.