Harold LeVander, B.A. (1932) Gustavus Adolphus College, LLB (1935) University of Minnesota. 32nd governor of Minnesota (1967-1971).
Karl Harold Phillip LeVander was born in Swede Home, Nebraska on October 10, 1910. He attended high school in Watertown, Minnesota, and graduated with honors from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1932. He received an LLB from University of Minnesota Law School in 1935 and began a thirty-year law practice at the firm of Stassen and Ryan in South St. Paul, owned by future governor Harold Stassen and future U.S. Representative Elmer Ryan. He also served from 1935-1939 as an assistant county attorney for Dakota County. While at Stassen & Ryan, LeVander also taught speech and coached debate at Macalester College until 1940. He served as President of South St. Paul's Chamber of Commerce from 1952-1954 and as President of the South St. Paul United Federal Savings and Loan Association from 1953 until his inauguration as the 32nd governor of Minnesota on January 2, 1967.
Less than a month before the primary election of 1970, LeVander announced that he would not seek reelection. Instead, he chose to return to his law firm, renamed LeVander, Gillen & Miller after changes in its ownership and partnership. He served as director of The St. Paul Companies (1973–1981), the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (1974-1981), and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce (1975-1978). Harold LeVander died on March 30, 1992 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
From the guide to the Harold LeVander law school notebooks, circa 1932-1935, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives [uarc])
