Karl Harold Phillip LeVander (1910 - 1992)

Born 10 Oct 1910 in Polk, Nebraska, United States

Died 30 Mar 1992 at age 81 in Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States

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Preceded by 31st Governor Karl Rolvaag

Harold P. LeVander 32nd Governor of Minnesota 1967—1971

Succeeded by 33rd Governor Wendell Anderson

Biography

Harold LeVander is Notable.

Harold LeVander was a Minnesotan.

Karl Harold Phillip LeVander was born in 1910. He is the son of Peter LeVander and Laura Lovene.^[1][2][3] He married Iantha Powrie September 15, 1938.^[4] He died in 1992.^[5][6]

Marriage Announcement

Miss Helen Powrie to Be Cousin's Attendant Resident of England and Denmark to Arrive Here September 12. MISS HELEN POWRIE, a resident of London and Copenhagen, will be maid of honor for her cousin. Miss Iantha Powrie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William R. Powrie, 2042 Dayton avenue, St. Paul, when the latter is married Sept. 15 to Harold LeVander. Miss Helen Powrie is a former Minneapolitan and daughter of the C. R. Powries who now live abroad. She has been spending the summer in the United States and will arrive here Sept. 12 from Michigan. Miss Powrie will leave for England after the wedding. Bridesmaids for Miss Iantha Powrie will be Misses Peggy Jane Mills, Jane Dicks and Betty Jane Smith. The ceremony will be in Gloria Del Lutheran church, St. Paul.^[7]

Minnesota Governors

Harold P. LeVander Biography

In 1966, a little-known Republican Party activist named Harold LeVander organized his first campaign for elected office, aiming immediately for the governor’s chair. His victory over Karl Rolvaag, a DFLer whose campaign had suffered from party infighting in the primary season, made him the thirty-second governor of Minnesota.

Karl Harold Phillip LeVander was born in Nebraska, went to high school in Watertown, Minnesota, and graduated with honors from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1932. He went on to get his law degree from the University of Minnesota and began a thirty-year career at the South St. Paul law firm, Stassen & Ryan. LeVander served as an assistant county attorney for Dakota County (1935–1939) and also taught speech and coached debate at Macalester College until 1940. He was president of South St. Paul’s Chamber of Commerce from 1952 to 1954 and president of the South St. Paul United Federal Savings and Loan Association from 1953 until his inauguration.

LeVander rode into office with the highest vote total ever received by a Republican up to that point. Early in his term, the state legislature levied Minnesota’s first sales tax, overriding two gubernatorial vetoes. This led many Minnesotans to refer unfairly to the tax assessed on many purchases as “LeVander pennies.” As governor, he created the Metropolitan Council, the Pollution Control Agency, and the country’s first Human Rights Department. Also under his leadership, Minnesota became the first state to ratify the twenty-sixth amendment, which extended the right to vote to U.S. citizens eighteen and older.

Less than a month before the primary election of 1970, LeVander surprised everyone by announcing that he would not seek re-election. Instead, he chose to return to his law firm, now called LeVander, Gillen & Miller. He later became director of The St. Paul Companies (1973–1981), the Billy Graham Evangelical Association (1974–1981), and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce (1975–1978). He continued to live a quiet and private life until his death in 1992.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth: "U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Swedish American Church Records", 1800-1947, Swedish American Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths, and Burials; Parish: Calvary Lutheran Church; ELCA Film Number: S358; SSIRC Film Number: S-358, Name: Karl Harold Filippus Le Vander, Baptism Age: 0, Event Type: Baptism, Birth Date: 10 Oct 1910, Birth Place: Swede Home, Nebraska, Baptism Date: 13 Nov 1910, Baptism Place: Calvary Lutheran Church, Stromsburg (Swede Home), Polk, Nebraska, USA, Church: Calvary Lutheran Church, Father: Peter Magin Le Vander, Mother: Laura Maria Le Vander.
2. ↑ 1920 US Fed Census: "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X3CR-LMF : accessed 5 April 2021), Harold C Levander in household of Petri M Levander, Watertown, Carver, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 21, sheet 6B, line 93, family 185, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1082; FHL microfilm 2,340,817.
3. ↑ 1930 US Fed Census: "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWB3-MK9 : 2 February 2021), Harold Levander in entry for Magni Levander, 1920.
4. ↑ 1940 US Fed Census: "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KSK2-4Z9 : 7 January 2021), Harold Le Vander, South Saint Paul, Dakota, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 19-33, sheet 8A, line 38, family 161, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1918.
5. ↑ Death: "Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V4W7-498 : 4 December 2014), Karl Harold Phillip Levander, 30 Mar 1992; from "Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2001); citing Ramsey, Minnesota, record 2420360, certificate number 007700, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis., "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JLVG-465 : 10 January 2021), Harold Levander, 30 Mar 1992; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
6. ↑ Find-a-Grave: "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV2-6B98 : 5 March 2021), Harold Phillip LeVander, ; Burial, Mendota Heights, Dakota, Minnesota, United States of America, Acacia Park Cemetery; citing record ID 21450959, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
7. ↑ Marriage announcement: "The Minneapolis Star" newspaper, Tuesday, August 23, 1938, page 6
8. ↑ Minnesota Governors Biography: https://mnhs.gitlab.io/archive/governors-of-minnesota-collections/collections.mnhs.org/governors/index.php/10004227.html

• Find A Grave Memorial# 21450959

• Harold LeVander on Wikipedia