Winner:Elmer L. Andersen

The late Minnesota governor Elmer L. Andersen played a leading role in many positive changes in Minnesota. Here's a partial list:

• The establishment of the nation's first comprehensive special education requirement and program.
• The enactment of pioneering civil rights legislation, outlawing discrimination in employment and housing.
• The establishment of Voyageurs National Park.
• The enactment of a constitutional amendment insuring fair taxation for the taconite industry, an amendment credited for spurring that industry's development.
• Creating several state parks, notably Frontenac and Fort Snelling.
• Setting new standards in employee benefits as CEO of two major Minnesota companies, H.B. Fuller and ECM Publishing.
• Establishing a library at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, leading efforts to build a new library in Princeton, Minnesota, and donating tens of thousands of books to the University of Minnesota and other libraries around the state.
• Providing leadership and financial support to a great number of civic and charitable organizations, including being chairman of the University of Minnesota Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the Alliss Foundation, and the Minnesota Historical Society.
• Led the University of Minnesota Board of Regents wisely during a time of student unrest in the early 1970s.
• Almost singlehandedly arranged for the preservation of Sugarloaf Cove on the North Shore.

I could go on.
~Lori Sturdevant, Minneapolis, MN