Dick Broeker

Dick Broeker wore sandals and jeans and didn't even have a desk or office when he pushed and dreamed the city of St. Paul into the future with a vast array of projects as the right-hand man for Mayor George Latimer.

Broeker, whose dreams for St. Paul have mostly come true, died of a heart attack Tuesday at his Lake City, Minn., home overlooking Lake Pepin and the apple and cherry orchard he planted for his retirement years. He was 62.

As deputy mayor to Latimer in the late 1970s and early '80s, Broeker helped launch the city's District Energy system that heats and cools most of downtown, was a co-founder of Taste of Minnesota, helped the city get the World Trade Center (now Wells Fargo Plaza), helped save historic buildings in Lowertown and start the Farmers' Market, and led the effort to redevelop the riverfront.

"He was involved in everything that happened," said Latimer, who hired Broeker as an aide in 1976 at the suggestion of his wife, Nancy Latimer. At the time, Broeker was a neighbor to the Latimers and was interested in welfare reform. He had a doctorate in social work and was an associate dean at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

"I asked him to come down out of the ivory tower and help run the city," Latimer said. "Like no other person I have met, he was able to conceive of an idea, execute it in detail and get everyone to go along with him."

"There are some great partnerships … and Dick and George truly were one of those," recalled Susan Kimberly, the city's current Planning and Economic Development director and a former St. Paul City Council member and president. "He was just a huge presence during George's time in office."

Broeker later became president of the St. Paul Riverfront Corporation, helping to restore the city's ties to the river.

"The riverfront work was one of his biggest dreams, seeing the riverfront reconnected to the city," said Broeker's son, Tim. "And the St. Paul Farmers' Market project was very important to him."

Patrick Seeb, president of the St. Paul Riverfront Corporation, said Broeker was the impetus of the corporation.

"He was a genius and had incredible energy and incredible ideas," Seeb said. "The stuff we are doing today traces back to the principles and core values that he led with."

Ron Maddox, now manager of Taste of Minnesota and a former City Council member, said Broeker convinced him go to Chicago to see the Chicago Fest and from that, the Taste of Minnesota was launched.

"He was the most intelligent, unselfish person I ever met," Maddox said. "His biggest disappointment, he told me, was that he didn't get to introduce Ricky Nelson at one of the Tastes. Nelson was his favorite singer and Dick ran home to change clothes and got back too late; Nelson was gone."

After working for Latimer, Broeker went to work for architectural engineering firm Ellerbe Associates. Shortly afterward, the firm acquired Welton Becket. Broker was instrumental in integrating the two firms into Ellerbe Becket, according to CEO Rick Lincicome. He was with the firm until 1994 and remained active in St. Paul affairs.

More recently, Broeker had been director of Southeast Minnesota's Experiment in Rural Cooperation, one of five University of Minnesota regional partnerships. He retired in June.

He and his wife, Mary, moved to Lake City five years ago and built a home overlooking Lake Pepin. Broeker had planted 400 apple and cherry trees.

"He was out there every day, tending to them and shooing away the deer," Tim Broeker said. "That was his dream, to retire and become a small farmer."

Broeker grew up in Edina and received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1971.

He was a black belt in Aikido Yoshokai.

In addition to his wife and son, Broeker is survived by a daughter, Jill, and brothers John and Charlie Blair-Broeker. Funeral services are pending.