David Preus, fighter pilot, lawyer, and lover of the land

The WWII vet practiced law in Minneapolis. He later bought land along the St. Croix and preserved it via a trust.

By SUSAN FEYDER, Star Tribune

Last update: November 3, 2009 - 9:04 PM

David Preus was just a freshman at Yale College in 1941 when he left school, enlisted in the Army and began training to become a pilot. Members of his family say it was simply the urge to be part of the building war effort.

He proved to be something of a daredevil, even in his own accounts of the war years. At a gathering of World War II vets last summer in Charleston, S.C., he recounted one of his first flights. "I was nipping the clouds and having a good time. I decided to see how fast I could make the plane go, so I did what is called a split 's' and headed toward the ground," Preus said in a story published by the Air Force News Service. By the time he decided to pull out of the dive, the stick wouldn't move. Finally using both hands, he was able to pull out right at ground level.

"You do some stupid things when you are young," he said. But he survived and went on to complete 38 combat missions over Europe as a P-47 fighter pilot.

Preus died Oct. 28 of complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 86.

Preus, who was born in Minneapolis, returned to Yale when the war was over, eventually earning a law degree in 1950. He practiced law in Minneapolis for 25 years with the firm of Bowen, Bowen, Preus and Farrell, retiring in 1973.

Preus then joined the Cottonwood Land Co., a firm formed by several Twin Cities businessmen who planned to mine low sulphur coal in Wyoming. Preus served as president for about 30 years and retired in 2004.

Preus' daughter, Catherine, said her father sold the surface rights of the Wyoming land and used the money to buy up farmland along the St. Croix River at Osceola, Wis. Eventually he acquired almost 2,000 acres, and in 1994 sold 1,100 acres that are now preserved as Standing Cedars Community Land Trust. Catherine Preus said the land is being restored to natural prairie, woods and wildlife habitat and has public hiking trails and riverfront access.

"His great love was spending time with his family and on the land in Wisconsin. Walking on trails, boating on the river in his handmade wooden boat, watching the fireflies at night from the porch of [the family's] 100-year-old brick farm house," she said. He also was a music lover who liked to play soulful blues on a harmonica under the stars in Wisconsin.

In addition to his daughter, Preus is survived by his wife, Doris (Topsy); a son, Peter, and a sister, Helen Mairs.

The family will hold a private memorial service.

Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723

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