Lewis Lehr

Lehr, who collected jokes from fellow 3Mers in an 8-inch thick file until the day he died, was chief executive of the Maplewood-based conglomerate from 1979 to 1986 and a member of its board of directors from 1974 to 1991. He died Saturday Saturday August 5 2016 in Phoenix at age 95, the company said. Lehr was born to corn farmers in Elgin, Neb., in 1921. An only child, he lived on the farm until the age of 14, when his father died, forcing him and his mother to move to town. She took a job at the local general store, while Lehr did chores for aunts and uncles in the area after school. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in chemical engineering and married Doris Stauder in 1944. The couple would later settle in Roseville and raise four children. Lehr served in World War II as an engineer in the U.S. Army, then joined 3M in 1947. He started as a technical service representative and engineer in the company’s tape business and spent the next 39 years rising up the ranks. After his 12 years in the tape unit in St. Paul, he went on to build 3M’s medical products division, which is now part of 3M’s $5.4 billion health care business. ehr served on the boards of General Mills, Shell Oil and the University of Minnesota Medical School Foundation. He was preceded in death by Doris, his wife of 60 years. He is survived by his daughter Mary Makin of Camp Verde, Ariz.; sons William (wife Charlotte) of Iola, Ill.; Don (Pamela) of Minnetonka; and John (Cammy) of Roseville; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.