The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
The fortune: Chuck Surack founded Sweetwater in Fort Wayne in 1979, building it from a recording-studio business into the largest online retailer of musical instruments and pro audio in the United States. Sweetwater's revenue reached $1.86 billion in 2025, by the company's published figures as carried in its reference profiles. In August 2021 Providence Equity Partners took a majority stake in the company; Surack stepped down as chief executive and remains Founder and Chairman. The company's business entry is in the Business section.
The giving: The Surack Family Foundation was established in July 2021. The published record of the family's giving, kept to what the recipients and the press have printed: Chuck and Lisa Surack give to more than 600 nonprofit organizations annually (the Indiana Business Journal's account); a $5 million gift to Taylor University for the Horne Academic Center, with a second Taylor gift whose amount was not disclosed (Taylor University, 2024); a $1,000,000 Surack Family Foundation grant to Purdue University Fort Wayne (public grant listing, 2025); and the Chuck and Lisa Surack Endowed Scholarship at the University of Saint Francis. Baekgaard, Busse, and Surack alike, no publication has printed an estimate of Surack's personal net worth — and so none appears here.
Sources:
- Sweetwater company profiles (Wikipedia, from company reports) — 1979 founding, $1.86 billion 2025 revenue, the 2021 Providence Equity stake, the chairman role.
- Indiana Business Journal — the Surack Family Foundation (July 2021) and giving to more than 600 nonprofits annually.
- Taylor University (2024) — the $5 million Horne Academic Center gift and the second, undisclosed gift.
- Public grant listing (2025) — the $1,000,000 Surack Family Foundation grant to Purdue University Fort Wayne; University of Saint Francis — the endowed scholarship.