Rudy George Perpich

Rudolph George "Rudy" Perpich, Sr. (June 27, 1928 – September 21, 1995) was an American politician and the longest-serving governor of Minnesota. In addition to his wife Lola and parents, Mr. Perpich is survived by a son, Rudy Jr., who is called Nick, of M innetonka, and a daughter, Mary Sue Bifulk of Plymouth, Minn. An immigrant Croatian miner's son who did not speak English when he entered school, Mr. Perpich was a product of the rough-and-tumble Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party politics of the Iron Range in the northern part of the state, where his parents, Anton and Mary, still live. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, he served as the 34th and 36th Governor of Minnesota from December 29, 1976 to January 4, 1979, and from January 3, 1983, to Ja nuary 7, 1991. He was also the state's only Roman Catholic governor and the only one to serve non-consecutive terms. Before entering politics, he was a dentist. After leaving office in 1991, Perpich went to Zagreb, Croatia, to assist in the post-communist government. He moved to Paris, France for a business consulting position in 1992, but returned to Minnesota in 1993. After a battle with colon cancer, he died in 1995 at the age of 67 in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka.