Paul Christen, longtime Pohlad business partner and former Twins part owner, dies at 96

The first time Paul Christen met Carl Pohlad, the future Minnesota billionaire denied him a loan. But he didn’t leave totally empty-handed: Christen gained a lifelong friend and business partner.

After that chance meeting more than half a century ago, Christen worked with Pohlad to build a banking, Pepsi bottling and baseball empire.

“When my dad needed a specific thing done, Paul was the one who did it,” said Bob Pohlad. “He had a great way of engaging with people. He was very much a people person.”

Christen died July 27. He was 96.

While a lifelong supporter of his beloved South Dakota, Christen’s friendship with and work for Carl Pohlad helped shape several prominent Twin Cities businesses. The families would grow even closer when a Pohlad son married a Christen daughter.

“It was through their friendship that Becky and I met, and we’ve now been married 47 years,” Bob Pohlad said.

Christen would eventually serve as president of MEI Corp. during its heyday as a Fortune 500 company that owned one of the largest Pepsi bottling operations in the country. He followed other Pohlad ventures in banking, hotels, insurance and airlines.

“His relationship with Bob’s dad really shaped his life,” Becky Pohlad said.

Paul R. Christen was born in Minneapolis on March 11, 1929. The Christen family moved to Mitchell, S.D., to open a bakery the young Christen would work at through high school.

Christen attended Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell and remained attached to it for life, donating heavily and serving as a trustee.

“Paul’s legacy at DWU, in our state and with the organizations he served will be felt for generations,” the university said in a statement.

After college, Christen married Donna “Muffy” Starr, and the couple made a home in Huron, S.D., opening their own bakery and buying a house in 1954 that remained Christen’s home for the rest of his life.

A long run of weekdays in Minneapolis and weekends in Huron ended after Pepsi bought MEI in 1986, but Christen wasn’t done working. He would buy up more than a dozen South Dakota banks, running them under the First Western banner.

“He reimagined himself, and built this banking enterprise,” Bob Pohlad said.

Christen served as the bank’s CEO until 2008, when Montana-based First Interstate bought First Western.

He had sold his 10% stake in the Twins in 2003, and the final chapter of his life was dominated by philanthropy.

The Christens were named to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s America’s Most Generous Donors of 2011 list after giving $20 million to the South Dakota Community Foundation.

Christen was preceded in death by his wife.