Dayton, Kenneth N.

Kenneth N. Dayton (1922-2003) was a leading business and individual philanthropist in both his home state of Minnesota and nationwide. After returning from Army service in Europe during World War II, Kenneth Dayton joined the family company, the Dayton Hudson Corporation (now the Target Corporation) in 1946, when it consisted of a single department store in downtown Minneapolis. Starting in the receiving room, he then worked in a number of merchandising roles, becoming president in 1969 and chief executive in 1970. The company went public in 1967, after expanding by building and buying more department stores and starting the Target discount chain to compete with other discounters. Dayton retired as CEO in 1976, and left the company's board in 1983. He went on to serve on the Board of Trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust from December 1985 until June 1993.