Carl Ahlgren always made the sale, in a gentlemanly way

Carl Ahlgren of Roseville plied his skills as a salesman to help lead the American Swedish Institute.

Ahlgren, who was chairman of the board of the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, was knighted in 1996 by the King Carl Gustaf of Sweden for advancing Swedish culture in the United States.

The former executive of Hawkins Chemical Inc. died Oct. 4 in St. Paul, a day after falling. He was 84.

In 1942, the son of Swedish immigrants graduated from Ogilvie High School, where he was a basketball star. He attended the University of Minnesota before joining the military during World War II. He served as a radio operator in India in the Army Air Forces.

After the war, he graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science in 1948. He played basketball at the university and at Macalester.

For several years, he earned his stripes as a salesman, selling silverware door to door, later becoming an insurance salesman.

He joined Hawkins in the 1950s.

In the 1950s, Ahlgren opened the government market for the firm by clinching a deal with the city of Minneapolis in connection with water treatment.

He was also key in the firm's effort to make it a publicly held company, said his son, and his father rose to vice president.

Bruce Karstadt, president of the American Swedish Institute, said Ahlgren was vital in shoring up the institute's finances, increasing its membership, expanding programs and implementing building renovations.

"He knew how to be persistent in a gentlemanly way" and "he had a great sense of humor," Karstadt said.

Ahlgren once saw a photograph of a couple who had donated property to the Minnesota Historical Society, and it was mentioned that they had Swedish heritage. Later, while on a flight to Sweden, he noticed the couple.

"He was so proud of the institute, and he wanted others to be a part of it," Karstadt said.

Ahlgren once led the Minnesota section of the American Water Works Association and was a member of the Zuhrah Shrine and the Roseville Rotary.

In the mid-1960s, he served as president of St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Roseville, where he was a member for 54 years.

He retired from Hawkins in 1991, enjoying gatherings at the family cabin that he helped build in Crow Wing County.

June, his wife of 59 years, died in 2006.