Investment banker loved sealing big deals

Patrick Sidders, who was well-known in the Twin Cities investment community for his deal-making with small- and medium-size companies, has died after a 10-year battle with Pick's disease, a rare neurodegenerative illness that causes progressive destruction of nerve cells in the brain.

Sidders passed away Aug. 27 at the Wellstead of Rogers. He was 68.

Sidders began his career in the mid-1960s at Prudential Insurance Co. as a senior investment analyst working with commercial and industrial loans.

After a stint as vice president of corporate finance at Dain Bosworth Inc., Sidders spent nearly 10 years in the 1970s and early 1980s at Modern Merchandising Inc., where he rose to president and led negotiations for the $115 million sale of the company to Best Products Inc. He later became senior vice president and managing director of corporate finance at John G. Kinnard & Co.

While there he helped raise capital for startup companies that included Famous Dave's, Select Comfort, Summit Brewing and Golf Galaxy, and guided them as they grew, said his son Kevin, of Charlottesville, Va.

"Doing a successful IPO [initial public offering] was one of his most satisfying accomplishments," said his wife of 46 years, Barbara, of Minnetonka.

"He became very personally involved with 'his' companies, from readying the management for the move toward public ownership all the way through the closing dinner. He loved it all."

"He worked hard, was well-grounded and fundamentally sound," said Daniel Haggerty, who worked with Sidders at Prudential Insurance Co. and has been a friend for more than 40 years.

"He did corporate finance stuff and he was really good at that. He had a nice personality. People could trust him. They held him in high regard."

Born in Duluth, Sidders graduated from DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis in 1958 and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1963 from St. Benedict's College (now Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kan.

Sidders was an avid sportsmen and a "deadly duck hunter," said longtime friend Tom Crowley. He enjoyed spending time at the "Duck Farm," a family-owned property near Glenwood, Minn. In the summers he often took trips to Leech Lake to go walleye fishing, his son Kevin said.

In his early days, Sidders also was a "fancy bowler," Crowley said. He enjoyed playing softball into his 40s and more recently liked boating and playing golf, Kevin said.