Arno Tremann, 91, a success in many ventures

As a child growing up in Chicago, Arno Tremann was told he wouldn't have to work a day in his life.

After the Great Depression dashed that prospect, he didn't mourn his family's turn in fortune.

Tremann, who owned 36 movie theaters across Minnesota and later was a successful franchise holder and franchise creator, died Monday in Elko of complications from cancer. The longtime Excelsior resident was 91.

"He just had a positive attitude, and he never complained when the economy turned down," said his son Dr. Charles Tremann of Charleston, S.C.

"He took that from his Depression experience. Many became parsimonious, but not Dad," said his son. "He became very generous."

At age 13, he delivered newspapers in Chicago.

After graduating from Minneapolis' West High School in 1935, he studied engineering at the University of Minnesota for a few years.

"They charged 10 cents for the movie and 10 cents for popcorn," said his son. "He made nothing on the movies, but 9 cents on the popcorn."

During World War II, he got around the state by flying an airplane, avoiding the rationing problems that curbed driving.

After the war, he was particularly proud of his 1948 V-12 Lincoln convertible. For fun, he "wore a red wig" while driving the car. "He was a showman," said his son.

But by 1953, television had shut down many small-town theaters, so he sold them off. Then he became a franchisee for Dairy Queen, running more than a dozen of the stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In the mid-1950s, he and a partner began opening Happy House candy shops in shopping centers, and by 1959 they had opened their 100th store in Hawaii, selling candy, cards and gifts.

Next he launched businesses in fiberglass burial vaults and in financing, and he helped to introduce coffee bags for simpler brewing.

Tremann slowed into retirement in 1979, living some of the time in Minnesota but mostly in Vero Beach, Fla. He returned to Minnesota in 2007 and had been living in Carver at the time of his death.

He liked to ski, play tennis and sail on Lake Minnetonka and Lake Superior, and was a founder of the Upper Lake Minnetonka Yacht Club.

A son , Dr. James Tremann, died in 2005.

In addition to his wife of 68 years, and Charles, he is survived by son John of New Berlin, Wis.; daughters Linda Shermnock of Chaska, Kathy Rieppel of Carver and Betsy Berglund of Springfield, Va.; 18 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.