Gov. Wendell Anderson dies at 83

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http://www.startribune.com/wendell-anderson-former-minnesota-governor-dead-at-83/387172031/
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Former Minnesota Gov. Wendell Anderson, who appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1973 with a big northern pike and wide grin as a symbol of his state’s good life, but then alienated voters when he appointed himself to a vacant U.S. Senate seat, died Sunday, a state official said.

Anderson, 83, had struggled with Alzheimer’s for some time before dying from pneumonia while in hospice in St. Paul, said his son, Brett Anderson.

“Old age was his least favorite part of life,” Brett Anderson said a few hours after his father’s death, following a “precipitous physical decline” in the past few months.

“He had a good run,” the former governor’s son said. “He played hockey until well into his 70s.”

Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement that “Governor Anderson was one of Minnesota’s greatest governors. His transformational ‘Minnesota Miracle’ — which he achieved through one of the most momentous bipartisan agreements in our state’s history — has dramatically improved the quality of our state’s public education.”

Dayton’s office also released a statement from the family that read: “Wendell Anderson was many things: A kid from east St. Paul, a Gopher, an Olympian, an elected public servant of the highest order. But above all else, he was a Minnesotan. His love for the state and its citizens was second only to his love for his family.”