Matthew Albert Gruettner

Matthew Albert “Matty” Gruettner, 37, of Milwaukee, WI, passed away on July 2, 2026.

Writing that sentence is so unfair and dumb, because Matty was so much more than a name with dates around it. He was a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend, and a constant presence in the lives of the people who loved him. He was funny in ways that were hard to explain, sweet in ways he probably would have tried to dodge, and completely himself.

Matty was the beloved son of Dave and Penny Gruettner. To Ben Gruettner, he was not just a brother, but his best friend. He was also the best Uncle Matty in the world: playful, goofy, gentle, and deeply loved.

Matty was brilliant with technology. He attended Winona State University in the Computer Science program and left in 2014 to start his own mobile app and game development business, which he very appropriately named Appnoxious. He went on to do game development work for major names in the industry, including Google Inc. and AppLovin Corporation.

To his family, he was also the unofficial IT department. Computers, phones, networks, random errors, mysterious settings — if something broke, Matty could figure it out. More recently, he had been helping people with cybersecurity issues and was planning to move further in that direction.

But even with all that talent, the thing people will remember most is not just what Matty could figure out. It is how he made people feel.

Matty had a way of making small things memorable. He was funny without trying too hard, loving without making a big show of it, and uniquely himself in a way that made the people closest to him feel lucky to be part of his world.

He was at his best in the little moments — texts, jokes, the small acts of care that added up to something much bigger.

Matty was kind. Not in a performative way. Not in a way that needed attention. He was the kind of person who would help push a stranger’s car out of the snow and then make a joke afterward to downplay that it was a big deal. He cared more than he probably knew how to say. But he said it anyway — in check-ins, in jokes, in showing up, and in his own unmistakable way.

For his family, losing Matty means losing a daily voice. It means losing someone who made ordinary moments funny, and gave the people closest to him a world of stories they will carry for the rest of their lives.

Matty is survived by his parents, Dave and Penny Gruettner; his brother, Ben Gruettner; his nieces, Carter and Gianna; and the friends and family who knew and loved him.

In lieu of flowers, cards, or other nonsense like that he would have hated, please consider doing something kind in Matty’s memory: check in on someone, help someone solve a problem, make someone laugh, or consider making a donation to a cause that supports children, technology education, or animal rescue.

Matty was loved more than words can say. He was funny, kind, smart, and completely himself. His brother Ben thinks this is all so completely unfair, but that won’t stop him from telling their stories, saying their phrases, carrying on their traditions, checking in, and loving him more than anything in the world, forever.