Musser, John, 1908-1990

John Miller Musser, Weyerhaeuser Company executive and St. Paul (Minn.) community leader, was born in Muscatine, Iowa, the son of Clifton Robert and Margaret (Kulp) Musser. The Musser family was closely involved in Weyerhaeuser corporate interests, and John's grandfather, Peter Miller Musser (1841-1919), was Frederick Weyerhaeuser's partner in the formation of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in 1900.

John Musser graduated from the Hotchkiss School (1929), Yale University (1930), and the Harvard Business School (1933). Musser joined the General Timber Company, a Weyerhaeuser subsidiary, in 1934 as an auditor in its St. Paul offices, from which position he rose to become its president, as well as an officer or board member in many other Weyerhaeuser firms, including a long tenure (1950-1978) on the Weyerhaeuser Company's board of directors.

Musser's community service encompassed a wide range of activities on the local, national, and international scenes, including service as a trustee of Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.) and Yale University; as a leader of such local organizations as the Boy Scouts, the United Way, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the St. Paul Urban Coalition, and St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church; as a trustee of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies; and with environmental groups like the Nitrogen Fixing Tree Association (Hawaii).

Musser married Elizabeth Willet in 1936 and died in St. Paul in 1990. Biographical information was taken from the collection.

From the guide to the John M. Musser and family papers., 1918-1991., (Minnesota Historical Society)