Henry Albrecht built success on opportunity

In 1965, Henry (Heine) Albrecht sold his very successful scaffold-making business, Waco-Porter Corp., believing he had little time left after surgery to remove a cancerous kidney.

So he and his wife, Betty, moved to Naples, Fla., to enjoy life.

But as things turned out, the former Edina man had a few good years left. He died June 9 in Naples at the age of 95.

Of congestive heart failure.

When Albrecht began building homes on speculation 70 years ago, he used wooden scaffolding to reach the upper stories. He figured there had to be a better, safer way.

After graduating from the old Central High School in Minneapolis about 1930, he attended the University of Minnesota as a pre-law student.

He was a homebuilder in the late 1930s and worked construction for the war effort in Minneapolis during World War II, said his son, Peter Albrecht, a Hennepin County District Court judge.

By the mid-1950s, the firm branched into steel bleacher production and had expanded its plant in St. Louis Park five times.

Eventually, Wilson left the partnership, and Albrecht established plants in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio, and Chicago. He had worldwide distributorships.

He gave much credit for his success to the post-World War II building boom.

"How humble he was," said his son. "He recognized how much luck had to do with success."

He expanded into recreational equipment and spectator seating, as well as industrial shoring and ladder jacks.

"He was a genuine human being, who had a lot of imagination, and it was a pleasure working for him," Chenoweth said.

By the 1960s, Albrecht moved the headquarters of the company he had co-founded to Chicago, commuting every week from his Edina home. But then came that cancerous kidney and the move to Naples.

In Naples, he led many civic groups, as he had done in the Twin Cities.

He had helped lead the Midwest section of the Young Presidents' Organization, a young business leaders' group, was the president of the St. Louis Park's Chamber of Commerce and its Rotary Club. He played leadership roles in Red Cross campaigns and was active in the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce.

In Naples, he served on the boards of numerous charitable organizations. In 1996, the Naples Foundation honored him and his wife with its Cosgrove Award, and in 2002 he was named by the Naples Daily News as its Outstanding Citizen of the Year.

Until recent years, he spent summers in Minneapolis. In retirement, he built a couple of condominium projects in Minneapolis and Naples, living in both at one time or another.

His wife of 68 years, Betty, died in 2006.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughters, Gale Sharpe of Minneapolis, Martha Lewis of Deephaven, and Ann Cosgrove of Orono; 11 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.