Former North Stars president John Karr dies

The former team president, who came to Minnesota from Cleveland's old NHL team, learned to love hockey and understood the importance of teamwork.

By Ben Cohen, Star Tribune

Last update: March 20, 2007 - 10:17 PM

During the 1930s, when he was playing hockey in Allouez, Mich., John Karr probably knew he wasn't NHL material.

"I wasn't much of a skater," he told the Minneapolis Star in 1978. "So when I played defense, they propped me up at the blue line. When someone came down the ice with the puck, I was supposed to get in his way. He would hit me, and we would go down, and the puck would go flying for someone else to pick up.

Karr, of Bloomington and Naples, Fla., who was president of the Minnesota North Stars and Bloomington's old Metropolitan Sports Center from 1978 to 1988, died of a stroke on March 13 in Naples, Fla. He was 77.

Lou Nanne, the former North Stars general manager who worked with Karr for 10 years, said he was a "bright financial guy."He brought a financial awareness to the business. He probably was a key to making everybody look at hockey as a business," said Nanne, adding that Karr appeared shy but really was an affable and communicative person.

"He learned to love the sport of hockey. It became a passion for him," said Nanne.

Before getting into hockey, Karr spent 10 years as vice president for administration and finance for Cole National Corp., a Cleveland company that held several businesses., such as the optical franchises in Sears stores across the United States.

With Cole and other major corporations, Karr became expert in merging companies, marketing their products and handling finances.

In 1977, brothers Gordon and George Gund hired him to be chief operating officer of the Cleveland Barons, an NHL club. The Gunds, who bought the North Stars in 1978, persuaded Karr to move to the Twin Cities after the North Stars and the Barons merged.

Gordon Gund recalled Karr as an extremely hard-working person with like expectations of those around him.

"He really had good sense of people and [knew] the importance of teamwork," said Gund, who heads Gund Investment Corp., of Princeton, N.J., and who sold the North Stars in 1990.

Gund said that Karr demonstrated his excellent marketing skills when he successfully brought ice shows and concerts to the Met.

Karr retired from full-time work after leaving the North Stars. In the late 1980s, he coordinated the NHL's 75th anniversary festivities. And for several years, he served on the board of Urban Ventures of Minneapolis, a nonprofit service agency.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Millie of Bloomington and Naples, Fla.; sons John of New Canaan, Conn., and Christopher of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; daughters Karen Cullison of Burnsville and Susan Goeks of Libertyville, Ill.; sisters Margot Wells and Judy Wilson, both of Rancho Cordova, Calif., and 10 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Colonial Church of Edina, 6200 Colonial Way.

Ben Cohen • bcohen@startribune.com

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