Harold William Biel

Harold William Biel was born on July 11, 1945 in St. Paul, MN to Harold C.E. and Marie (Hartig) Biel. Hal grew up in Spring Valley, MN, where he graduated in 1963. He then attended Rochester Junior College, where he met his wife of nearly 57 years, Cheryl Ann Brumm. After mastering Bulgarian at Syracuse University in NY, Hal served in the US Air Force for 4 years as a Linguistics Specialist. Hal graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1969 with a degree in Accounting. He then became a CPA and began his career at Arthur Anderson, Inc. After leaving public accounting, Hal worked as a controller at Ellerbe, Inc. and Zero-Max. He then began his own financial consulting company (A&E Management, Inc.) which primarily worked with smaller architectural and engineering companies.



Hal's favorite title was "Papa" and described grand parenting as "God's gift for not killing your children." His favorite pastime was traveling throughout the world. This was spurred on after living in Turkey for 1 ½ years while in the Air Force. In 2009, Hal & Cheryl spent 3 months visiting 13 countries while visiting several missionaries in Kenya, Egypt, Ukraine and the Philippines. Hal did all the planning and booking (which took him longer than the trip itself.) The last trip on his bucket list was to return to Eastern Europe with his grandson, Jacob, this fall.



Hal loved Jesus and has been an active member of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church on 1901 Portland Ave. So, Minneapolis, MN since 1982. Family is asking that memorials be directed to St. Paul's Church.



He is preceded in death by his parents, sister Elsa, and nephew, David Wilkie, and his cranky old dog, Oscar.



Hal is survived by his wife, Cheryl; son, Anthony Edward (Sally) Biel; and daughter Jennifer Ann (Scott) Kadlec; Seven grandchildren (Adam Biel, Dillon Biel, Burleigh Biel (Sydney), Lexi Johnson (Jordan), Nick Ruhland (Emily), Alyson Ruhland and Jacob Ruhland; 3 great grand children (Isabella Biel, Ryker Johnson and Arya Ruhland - hopefully soon); Many other relatives and friends.



In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to St. Paul's Church. Memorial Service will be held at 11 AM on Monday, July 12, at St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church, 1901 Portland Ave. S in Mpls, with visitation one hour prior. Visitation will also be held 3-5 PM on Sunday, July 11, at Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel, 5000 W. 50th St.