CEO of Freedom gas stations killed in motorcycle crash

Article by: Star Tribune
Updated: July 29, 2010 - 9:18 PM

David Erickson died in an accident in Montana.

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The CEO of the Freedom Valu Center gas station and convenience stores that dot the Twin Cities area has died in a motorcycle crash in Montana, the company said Thursday.

David B. Erickson, 55, of Lakeland Shores, Minn., died in the crash Wednesday afternoon near Bozeman, according to a statement from the company's headquarters in Hudson, Wis.

Erickson's wife, Debi, also was on the motorcycle and was treated for minor injuries, the statement said.

The motorcycle drifted off the right side of the road and over an embankment north of the Bridger Bowl ski area, the Montana Highway Patrol told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Both of the Ericksons were wearing helmets, the patrol told the newspaper, adding that alcohol and speed were not factors.

The Freedom stores are privately held and family-owned. Along with locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Freedom also operates stores in Wisconsin, South Dakota and Michigan.

In March 2009, David Erickson's parents, Claire and Betty Lou, were found shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide in their Hudson home. David Erickson said at the time that he suspected his 83-year-old father did it "out of love" for the couple's three children, worried they someday would be left to care for Betty Lou, 81, who had Alzheimer's.

PAUL WALSH