Ronald Edwin Kaatz

1935 - 2025

"Ron Kaatz is dead." That is the complete obituary Ron wrote for himself.

His family elaborates on some of his 89.5 years:

Ronald Edwin Kaatz was born in Minnesota during the Great Depression and lived as a boy through World War II in Minnesota, Arizona, and Arkansas. After the war, he grew up in a rented house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, near Cedar Lake (on the "wrong side of the tracks"). His father was a carpenter; his mother, a homemaker.

As a boy in Minneapolis, Ron delivered newspapers and watched movies in grand downtown theaters. (His favorite movie was "The Wizard of Oz.") He and his friends explored the world on their own. Ron developed a deep sense of self-reliance and independence.

As a teenager, in the early 1950s, Ron co-founded the "Hennepin Avenue Boys" with friends Jack Wallingford, Stan Plys, and Carl Overman. They spent hours at The Rec, Rifle Sport, the Coronet Cafe, Cafe di Napoli, and other Hennepin Avenue hot spots. They also walked Hennepin together, loudly singing popular love songs. They remained friends for the rest of their lives.

At 18, Ron joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He served three years, leaving as a Sergeant, chief of a radio communications unit. His USMC years likely strengthened his self-discipline, leadership skills, and tendency to avoid BS.

Ron then used the G.I. bill and hard labor as a construction worker to enter the University of Minnesota and study economics, probability, and statistics. He graduated and walked out of the University right into a job at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. There he was rapidly promoted into management and retired more than 30 years later as a Senior Vice President.

Ron was known at the Fed as a straight-shooter who thought clearly and acted decisively and fairly. He liked to ponder, analyze, debate questions broadly and often reached sensible answers in unconventional ways. His approachable style was unusual for Fed officers, and he was a generous mentor.

In 1971, Ron bought 80 acres near the town of Aitkin, Minnesota. The place had swampland and trees, but no house, only a small "shack" with no water, no electricity, no insulation, a wood burning stove, and a 2-seater outhouse. Ron loved it. Weekends year-round for nearly 20 years were spent there, at "The Swamp," with his family and friends, playing, laughing, and making do together.

In 2000, Ron moved from Minneapolis to live at The Swamp full-time. He bought 40 more acres of natural swampland, which he left undeveloped intentionally. On the 80, he spent time planning, building, remodeling, landscaping, and keeping up the place. To help him (and to do the real work), he hired talented locals who turned into friends: Dave Paulson, Charlie Jackson, and Toby Gabrio.

In middle age, Ron became a devoted daily jogger ("slogger"), which he remained as long as his body allowed. Then he turned to creative activities. Primarily, he wrote "Amos," which he called a "core dump of ideas in my head that want out." It is a story plus essays in which Ron "mulls over" thoughts about topics ranging from hammers and the Laws of Kleenex to the good and evil of human experience and whether humanity will, or should, survive. Ron also wrote limericks and other poems for special occasions and composed for himself a song (words and music) he called "Ode to Searching for Joy."

He was recruited to serve for a time as Chairman of the Board of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. There he cooked up ways for members to learn more about ethics and economics and then move beyond thinking to actively helping other people.

A self-described humanist, Ron highly valued and pursued a life filled with love, understanding, quiet, and good cheer. He worked to be kind, thoughtful, and generous to others while staying true to himself: stubborn, unpretentious, and quirky.

Ron Kaatz was a good man.

Born in Worthington, Minnesota, on September 12, 1935, and died at his home at The Swamp near Aitkin, Minnesota, on March 12, 2025.

Survived by his wife of 30 years, Kathy Rolfe; sons John Kaatz (Peggy Kjorstad-Kaatz), Charlie Kaatz, and Paul Kaatz (Rose); sister Linda Kaatz McGee, niece Mary Copouls and nephew Tom McGee and their families; grandchildren Kris Macauley (Andy), Eric Kaatz, Spencer Kaatz, and Annalese Kaatz; great-granddaughter Elise Macauley; sister in-law Nancy Rolfe and her husband Frank Meyer; brother-in-law John Rolfe; cousin's daughter Rosie Thibodo; and old friends Carl Overman and Fritz Biermeier.

Preceded in death by his parents, Helen Gustafson Kaatz and Edwin Raymond Kaatz; ex-wife Sharon Bastys Kaatz; and old friends Bill Dolid, Jack Wallingford, Stan Plys, and Tom Horner.

No funeral service planned. Memorial gathering at The Swamp possible later this year.

Arrangements with Sorensen-Root-Thompson Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Aitkin. www.srtfuneral.com