We Remember Rudy Perpich
Barry S. Marjanovich
Zajednicar.
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Much has been written in newspapers, magazines and journals about the
late Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich who died at his home in Minnetonka, a
suburb of St. Paul, MN, on Sept. 21 of colon cancer at the age of 67.
Rudy Perpich was a 40-year member of Velebit Lodge 240 (Croatian
Fraternal Union of America) in Hibbing, MN where his parents, Anton and
Mary Perpich, are golden members of the CFU and where family members are
enrolled.
Proud of his Croatian heritage, Governor Perpich frequently attended CFU
and Croatian affairs and visited the CFU Home Office on his trips to and
through Pittsburgh.
On his last visit to the Home Office in 1991 enroute to Croatia, he
talked about his dream of influencing and increasing trade betweeen
Croatia and the United States, especially Minnesota.
Few people knew that the former governor had been suffering from colon
cancer since 1992, keeping it a family secret. His brothers, George of
Shoreview, Tony of Pine City and Joe of New York City, said he didn't
want anyone worrying about him. Friends recalled that while they were
hospitalized, many with cancer, Rudy would call to wish them well, never
mentioning his medical problems.
At the 1983 CFU national bowling tourney in St. Paul, then Governor
Perpich and his cousin, CFU Sports Director Rudy Perpich, rolled the
first balls in the tourney while the TV cameras caught the action.
We received newspaper and magazine clippings from several members, and
the following remarks were excerpted from these articles:
While the public knows a lot about Perpich the politician, lawmaker,
educator and businessman, it has known less about Perpich the historian.
Edward Nelson, director of the Iron Range Research Center, said, "He had
a real strong sense that we need to know where we've been to know where
we're going."
Thousands of items stacked in boxes donated by Governor Perpich are
stored in the basement of the state-subsidized history center which is
part of Ironworld.
One woman recalled, "When he came into office, he had an open house for
all the people, and I went down with my kids, the first time we had ever
been in the capitol and the governor's office."
He served as governor 1976-78 and 1982-1990, the longest-tenured governor
in state history.
Boris Miksic, a Croatian-born Twin Cities businessman just named
Croatia's counsel general to the United States, said Perpich returned to
his Croatian homeland in 1991 after losing a re-election bid, living
through the first 18 months of the bloody war of aggression.
"He made the decision to go back, and stayed through the worst years of
the war," said Miksic, the chief executive of Crotec Corp., a chemicals
maker in White Bear Twp., MN.
Miksic said that Perpich's dedication to the fledgling nation will never
be forgotten by the Croatian people.
"The country was brand new and he worked as a consultant to the president
because the nation needed recognition and needed help," Miksic said.
"Everyone knew of him and the people of Croatia respected him immensely
for that."
In Minnesota, Perpich tried to help newly arrived Croatians who were
injured in the war, calling doctors and directing them to hospitals,
Miksic said.
The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis was filled with 2,000 mourners
attending the Mass of Christian Burial.
South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, who delivered the eulogy, said, "Rudy
never grew too old to walk hand in hand with his wife in public."
Following his graduation from Marquette University in 1954, he married
Delores (Lola) Simic of Keewatin.
His daughter, Mary Sue Perpich Bifulk, in her eulogy said, "If I were to
wish something good for all of you, it would be that at some time in your
life, you could be blessed with a husband, a friend or a father like my dad,
Rudy Perpich. He was as pure as a person can be."
Columnist Nick Coleman wrote "He was Minnesota's cheerleader. He dragged
the state into the global economy, came up with ideas faster than McGyver
on speed and had that rarest commodity among the political class:
a vision... It will take historians and the biographers years to sort him
out, but Rudy Perpich earned the right to be remembered as a great."
Former State Sen. Ron Duklich, also a Hibbing native, told, "My memories
of him start when I was 5...He was my dentist. I remember people paying
him in potatoes and chickens."
Dan Loritz, former Legislative liason, stated, "Whatever he did or talked
about, it was always about people, education for people, jobs for people."
Former Gov. Wendell Anderson thinks Perpich was underrated by a lot of
people. "The fact that he was a little different from the crowd led some
people to think he wasn't very smart. He was very intelligent...a delight
to be around."
U.S. Rep. James Obestar, D-Minn., declared, "He was always working the
angle that would somehow mean jobs and economic development. Always."
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., said, "He had a fierce committment to
education. He had a lot ideas that people put down, but he didn't give
up. But what I remember him for more than anything was his methodology.
The Rudy Perpich methodology was to go to the cafes and have coffee and
pie and interact with people. He had great people skills."
A headline in the Star Tribune in Minneapolis blared, "Perpich was a
package deal- A vote for Rudy meant you'd get the rest of the family."
Doug Grow, Star Tribune staff writer, wrote: "Minnesotans will remember
Rudy Perpich for all sorts of things. But remarkable as the political
legacy is, it was the relationship with the family: his wife, Lola, son
Nick and daughter Mary Sue that made Perpich unique from all the others."
The Daily Tribune editorialized, "Perpich had vision and a strong sense
of values that flavored his public life. And he was armed with the
mind-set that things could be better...As governor, he worked with an
energy never before or since seen in Minnesota. He tried to tilt some
windmills, but he also made a lot of progress."
A Star Tribune editorial said Governor Perpich's achievements "included
torture treatment center, youth service, the Super Bowl, school choice,
the Mall of America, the Gorbachev visit, the state's first woman
lieutenant governor, nation's first female majority on a state high
court, prestigious awards for good government, the arts school, the
budget reserve, an end of state estate taxes for most people, reduced and
simplified income taxes, an expanded forest products industry and much
more. Just as important were things immeasurable. He has made Minnesota a
better place to be educated, to work, to own business. He has made it
more caring place to be poor, to be handicapped and to be a member of a
minority. His kind of caring isn't so popular anymore."
Columnist Jim Klobucher wrote stirringly about the former governor, "He
was a decent man. He was honest, and he made a difference in thousands of
lives. Disabled people know that better than most."
Lori Sturdevand, Star Tribune writer, said, "'The Star Tribune is going to
need two reporters covering the governor's office to keep up with me,' he
boasted after 1982 election. He wore out more of us than that. But none
of us would have missed it."
Peter Popovich, former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court,
told the Star Tribune: "Rudy tells the story about his father who was so
thrifty. Rudy and Lola were leaving on their honeymoon, and the Old Man said
'Before you go, go upstairs and change clothes. That suit you're wearing
will be used by the three boys coming up behind you! And Rudy went and
changed."
Like Rudy, his three brothers were all state senators.
Bernie Brommer, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, said, "Throughout his
political career, he (Perpich) listened to workers' concerns and
influenced and shaped government policy and programs to help working
people and the poor."
The Star Tribune noted, "Perpich was an unabashed booster of Minnesota,
going after everything from a chopsticks factory to a Saturn car plant to
the 1996 Olympic Games. Job creation became a mantra for Perpich. He
crisscrossed the country, indeed the globe, trying to line up jobs for
Minnesota. In his typical think-big manner, he vainly sought to entice
General Motors with $1.2 billion in tax breaks to build a Saturn plant
here. Instead, the car giant chose Tennessee."
Among the accomplishments cited after his death, none stood out more than
Gov. Perpich's role in education- getting the state to pay a larger share
of local school costs; open enrollment programs permitting students to
attend schools of their choosing, regardless of district boundaries;
provide state money for Head Start; creating a Minnesota Arts High School
in Golden Valley; and setting up the University of Minnesota's Commitment
to Focus, designed to emphasize graduate programs.
As a father, Rudy Perpich "gave love that was pure and unselfish from the
beginning to the end," said his son, Nick Perpich.
We remember Rudy Perpich. May he rest in God's Eternal Peace. Slava mu
vjecna.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Charles Gimon
for that article.
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Paranoia! Even Goya... gim...@skypoint.com
couldn't draw ya... --T. Pynchon Minneapolis MN USA
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