Bakken, Larry A. age 80, died peacefully on March 19, 2024, surrounded by his beloved family. He was born in Fargo, North Dakota on December 18, 1943 to parents Adolph Irene (Hanson) Bakken who preceded him in death. Larry is survived by wife Cathy Jacobson (of 33 years); children Amy Bakken (Mitch), Benjamin Bakken (Emily), and Carrie Bakken (Michael); and 7 grandchildren, Soren Bakken-Heck (Alyssa), Lucas Bakken-Heck(Hana), Zoe Bakken-Heck (Alex), Oscar Bakken-Durchslag, Sadie Bakken-Durchslag, Theodore Bakken-Ziring, and Tess Bakken-Ziring. Larry grew up in West Fargo, North Dakota and later earned a B.A. from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, an M.S. in economics from North Dakota State University, a J.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Law, and an LL.M. from the University of Manitoba School of Law. Larry's lifelong dedication to community service started early with his active participation in Eagle Scouts and in Luther League. Larry will most notably be remembered as one of the founders of Hamline University School of Law. In 1973, Larry and several friends and colleagues decided to establish the law school and officially brought in students in 1975. As was typical for the founders, Larry wore many hats. He served as librarian as well as a faculty member, and drove much of the early efforts at recruitment for the new school. Even after his official retirement in 2015, he continued teaching as adjunct at Mitchell Hamline School of Law and University of Bergen Faculty of Law until 2021. During his decades of service at Hamline University, Larry also created the Masters in Public Administration degree, as well as spent time as an early Dean of the Hamline Graduate School. He served as Associate Dean at the Law School, Director of the LL.M. Program for International Lawyers and Director of the Norway Summer Exchange Program and the Swedish Student Exchange Program. While Dean of the Graduate School he was responsible for the creation of the Nonprofit Management Program, the Masters of Management Program and the Advanced Certificate of Public Administration which preceded the Hamline DPA degree. He also served as President of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Public Administrators. Larry's teaching extended across the globe including lecturing on law, public administration, and public conflict topics in Canada, China, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Italy, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Professor Bakken published widely on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) topics and was well recognized as an authority on public sector dispute resolution. He put that experience into practice on a regular basis facilitating public sector conflicts. Larry had been a consultant to the Minnesota House of Representatives, the Administrative Conference of the United States and the Minnesota Private College Council. He designed, taught courses in the conflict resolution concentration offered to Hamline graduate students in its management, public administration and non-profit management masters degree programs. Larry was also a published author of many works and articles, including Justice in the Wilderness; he co-authored Fundamentals of Municipal Finance and Minnesota Administrative Practice and Proce- dure, Fundamentals of Public Finance, "The Conduct of Legislators," in Ethics, Government and Public Policy, and Mediation and Public Policy. He conducted research projects for the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, the Minnesota Legislature and the Administrative Conference of the United States. He has published a variety of articles in the areas of Conflict Resolution, Canadian-U.S. Trade and Comparative Law. Larry lived in Golden Valley from 1973 until his death. He served for 14 years as city council member and mayor of Golden Valley, and joined the board of the Golden Valley Historical Society in 2022. During his many years in Golden Valley, Larry also served as President of the League of Minnesota Cities and the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities and he was a member of the National League of Cities Board of Directors. He chaired the National League of Cities International Municipal Consortium and the Twin Cities International Economic Advisory Committee. Larry was also a Fulbright Scholar in 1995 and proudly kept his official congratulations letter from Senator Paul Wellstone for decades after teaching in Lithuania as a Fulbright Fellow. Larry also served on many non-governmental boards and organizations, including the Hill Library Foundation board, the Golden Valley City Community Foundation, the Loppet Foundation Advisory Committee and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Advisory Committee. He also served as President of Prism, a regional food shelf and Cherish our Children, a nonprofit organization to prevent child abuse. More recently he served on the Norway House Board of Directors and the Minnesota Peace Initiative. Outside of municipal and volunteer life, Larry had over 30 years of experience in business. He owned and published an international magazine (Law Review Digest) for over 15 years and had over 10 years banking experience that includes small rural banks and large regional institutions. He put this experience to work for the North Dakota Legislature in commerce, banking and environmental committees. He negotiated numerous international agreements for business and non-profit institutions as well as being an active and commercial arbitrator and mediator. Larry loved teaching and engaging with others. He was most happy when his family was able to join him in Norway to enjoy the country and the people, where he had taught for so many years. After a vibrant life of travel and years as a dedicated cyclist, skier and runner, Larry was diagnosed in 2015 with Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), a rare and incurable neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and wasting. Honorary donations to the Golden Valley Historical Society or the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center are greatly appreciated. Celebration of life service at Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley. Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 11 AM.

Published on March 31, 2024