Terrell Towers, who worked behind scenes to help Minnesota businesses grow, dies at 73

Over a long career in municipal and state government, Terrell Towers worked tirelessly to help businesses around Minnesota.

"That was his passion," said former Minneapolis City Council President Jackie Cherryhomes. "He was deeply, deeply committed to helping business grow, which was so important for the community. He was especially committed to helping women- and minority-owned businesses."

Towers died on May 12 at his Golden Valley home. He was 73.

His civil service career spanned more than three decades, including two stints in state economic offices and a stint with a Minneapolis city agency.

"He was smart and witty," said Cherryhomes. "We became good friends. He managed my first campaign [for City Council] along with Al Garcia."

Towers was born to Arthur Towers and Ritchie Motley on May 1, 1947, in Chicago. He was raised on that city's South Side. After graduating from high school, he was drafted and served in the Army.

After his military service, he enrolled at Moorhead State (now Minnesota State University Moorhead), where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1972. He was the first in his family to earn a college degree.

Mark Lofthus, a member of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce board, met him in the late 1980s. "We were in the same department but in different divisions," Lofthus said. "At the time, there was a conflict between the divisions, and they didn't work together well. But Terrell was always someone I could work with. We had a commonality in the focus of our jobs. He was always looking to help, even when we weren't expected to work together."

Towers left the department in January 1995 to become the Minneapolis Community Development Agency's top economic development official.

During his time with the MCDA, he oversaw downtown, riverfront and commercial developments that totaled more than $2 billion.

In 2003, he left his MCDA position after the agency eliminated four high-level manager roles in a cost-cutting move. From 1995 to 2003, he had also served as a commissioner for the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. He was chairman of the commission's Finance Committee from 2001 to 2003.

He worked for Wells Fargo for two years before joining the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. There, he worked as a business services manager for five years and field operations area manager for three years until retiring in 2014.

Lofthus agreed. "Government employees and public servants are under a microscope and thought of as just faceless bureaucrats who don't do their jobs in the public's interest," he said. "Terrell did. He was a great manager. He stayed behind the scenes. He had people that he expected to go out and do their job and do the right thing."

Towers is survived by sons Ryan and Kevin and daughter Kimberly, all of Minneapolis; partner Kaylen Whitmore and former wife Kathy Towers.

A service will be held later this summer.