William (Bill) Evans Palmquist

William (Bill) Evans Palmquist, beloved father, husband, brother, uncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather, passed away peacefully on August 22, 2025, at the age of 91. He lived a remarkable life, filled with achievement, service, curiosity, and love, and will be deeply missed by his family and friends.

Born on November 10, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, Bill was the son of Harry William and Gladys (Evans) Palmquist. A gifted student, he graduated with honors from Calumet High School and earned his Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering in 1955, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1957, both from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He completed his academic accolades in 1962 with an MBA from Harvard Business School. He served in the U.S. Air Force at Hanscom Field Boston where his work at the Cambridge Research Center & MIT's Lincoln Laboratory included data analytics for the ICBM rocket launch programs, rocketry and aerospace engineering. He also worked on computer programming at MIT's Carl Compton Computer Center. Following his honorable discharge as 1st Lieutenant from the Air Force, he took a leadership role at Sheldahl, Northfield MN in military and aerospace initiatives. In 1968, Bill was recruited by the Medtronic Corporation and moved his family to the Netherlands where he began a distinguished career in medical engineering technology. He worked at Medtronic to establish their first European medical device manufacturing and distribution facility. He again relocated in 1971 to England to serve as Chairman and Managing Director for Drayton Castle Ltd, a subsidiary of the Sybron Corporation. Bill returned to the U.S. where he began his landmark work with St Jude Medical of Minneapolis. At St Jude Medical, Bill worked to co-invent & develop the St. Jude’s Heart Valve, the first artificial bi-leaflet carbon coated heart valve, a patented device that has been successfully placed in over 3 million patients worldwide. He then continued his career with his own medical device companies focused on coronary bypass graft solutions until his retirement in 2006. The accomplishments of his career and life are great and simply underserved by a short summary. His legacy isn't just what he achieved, but how he did it: with a constant hunger to grow and a profound sense of responsibility to use his given gifts for the greater good. And his charge to everyone around him was to look within themselves and do the same.

Bill gave generously to his community, serving as President of the Northfield Arts Guild, Chair of the Northfield Hospital Board, and volunteering as a math tutor in Northfield and in the Somali community in Minneapolis, to name just a few. He was also active with Rotary and community leadership groups.

A lifelong advocate of physical fitness, he taught skiing and snowboarding, and exercised daily into his late eighties. He took great pride in the skiing friendships he developed and the bragging rights to his final snowboarding season at age 88. He was an adventurer, traveler, pilot, photographer, voracious reader and cook with wide-ranging interests from ballet to astrophysics. Above all, Bill delighted in his family, sharing humor, traditions, and a love of learning.

He is survived by his son Carl (Patty) Palmquist, niece Suzy (Dan) Palmquist, daughters MaryEllen (Jeff) Anderson, Jeanne (Kurt) Hulse, and Lisa (Alan) Dailey, thirteen grandchildren, several great-grandchildren, and former wives Dorothy Parker & Karin Minshull. He was preceded in death by his sister Cleo and his wife Annette.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel, 5000 West 50th, Edina, on Friday, Sep 12, 2025, with visitation at 2:00 p.m., service at 3:00 p.m., and a reception to follow. At Bill's request, please wear something colorful to his Celebration of Life.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Bill's name to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts &/or the Friends of Northrup Fund. Bill's family wants to warmly thank all the outstanding people who cared for him, with special gratitude to the wonderful teams at Riverside Transitional Care and Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin