Railroad founder and CEO Kent Shoemaker

The son of a railway executive, he worked in the industry most of his life and saw a future for smaller lines.

By BEN COHEN, Star Tribune

Last update: December 28, 2008 - 9:27 PM

Kent Shoemaker of Minneapolis, the founder, former CEO and chairman of the Twin Cities & Western Railroad and the Red River Valley & Western Railroad, died of complications from Parkinson's disease Dec. 21 in Bloomington. He was 74.

"He could see around corners, and he could see where the future of railroading was going," said Doug Head of Minneapolis, a board member of both railroads and a former Minnesota legislator and attorney general. "He was a great communicator, and a soft-spoken and effective leader. Everyone who knew him respected him."

Shoemaker grew up in Summit, N.J., the son of Perry Shoemaker, a railroad executive.

In 1956, he graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and rose through the ranks of the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1965, he moved to Minneapolis and became assistant vice president of operations at the Soo Line Railroad.

At age 40, he was made president of the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad but soon returned to Minneapolis. Over the next several years, he served as a railroad consultant and led a railroad in the eastern United States while commuting from Minneapolis. He even developed an options trading program and managed assets for others.

But it wasn't long before he returned to his career roots.

In 1987, he began operation of Red River Valley & Western in North Dakota on about 650 miles of track acquired from Burlington Northern. In 1991, he and others started the Twin Cities & Western, headquartered in Glencoe, Minn., operating in Minnesota on track previously owned by the Soo Line. The firm also has a contract to manage the Minnesota Prairie Line.

"Kent was a true railroad blue blood," said Bill Drusch of Eagan, a retired president and CEO of the Red River Valley & Western and Twin Cities & Western railroads. "It will be tough to replace his visionary attitude."

About 30 years ago, when the railroads were deregulated, he saw a future for smaller operations, Drusch said. He stuck his neck out buying locomotives, partly made in Minnesota, risking the ire of the few large manufacturers of locomotives.

He retired in 2000, and enjoyed sailing, fishing and tennis.

He was a supportive counselor to his children, said his son Doug, of Richfield. "He was a fantastic dad, and was extremely involved and dedicated to his family," he said.

His first wife, Catherine, died in 1989.

In addition to Doug, Shoemaker is survived by his wife, Maria Grifoni; two other sons, Bruce, of Weed, Calif., and Glenn, of Minneapolis; two stepsons, Alex Nisita of Short Hills, N.J., and Victor Nisita of Westfield, N.J.; two sisters, Linda Wolfberg of Canandaigua, N.Y., and Karen Fitzgerald of Washington; a brother, Craig, of Jamestown, N.C., and two grandchildren.

Services will be at noon today in the Lakewood Cemetery Chapel, 3600 Hennepin Av., Minneapolis.

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