HERBERT M. HANSON Jr.

Herbert M. Hanson, Jr. Herbert M. Hanson, Jr. was born in Browns Valley, MN to Herbert and Linda Hanson on October 5th, 1924. He died on February 4 in Rancho Mirage of congestive heart failure. He was 85 years old. He spent his early years in that small town and left in 1939 to attend and graduate from the Shattuck School in Faribault, MN. After graduation in 1943, he enlisted in the army, volunteered for parachute school and went to OCS where he became a First Lieutenant in the 11th Airborne serving in the Pacific. Since he had no dependents, he stayed on in the Occupation Army in Japan for 10 months after the war ended. In his spare time there, he learned to fly. The love of flying stayed with him, and he owned several small planes until 1971. He entered the University of Minnesota on the GI Bill and graduated in 1949. Anxious to get on with life, he headed to California to find a job. He pursued a career in Investment Banking and started as a broker with Dean Witter. In later years he became a partner of Stone and Webster, and his interest in investments was cultivated there. He completed a course in finance at the Wharton School in PA in 1964. But he wanted to manage money, so he started his own firm of institutional brokers in 1973, Hanson Investment Management Company, doing business as HIMCO. He managed public funds and specialized in county and state pension funds, he also had corporate and individual pension plans. After 20 years in a job he loved, he sold the firm to United Asset Management, and retired in 1993. He enjoyed the camaraderie of a group of friends in the Tocaloma Temperance Society in Marin County. He was on the Board of the San Domenico School, the Shattuck School, and the Palm Springs Air Museum. Then he became involved with the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. For a few days each semester, for six years, he taught the students what it would be like in the real world after graduation. With plans for a new building under way, Herb gave the seed money to get it started and now the building is open for underclassmen and has the name of Hanson Hall. In 2004 the Shattuck School gave him the Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2006 he received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota. Herb was a member of the Meadow Club in Marin County, CA and lived for many years at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, CA. He is survived by his wife Barbara and two children, Karen Hanson Waters of Auburn, WA, and Herbert M. Hanson III of Discovery Bay, CA. He has a step-daughter, Lynn Dooley of Petaluma, CA and a step-son, Jeffrey Sullivan of Littleton, CO. Memorial donations in his name may be made to a charity of your choice.