James Renier

Renier’s Belgian parents fled to America after surviving extreme poverty and the German occupation of 1914. Renier’s father joined the U.S. Army, fought for the U.S. during World War I before he and his wife settled in Duluth, where they ran a grocery store, brewery and started their family. Born in 1930, Renier attended Catholic schools where the “nuns helped him figure out how to behave,” he often jested. He graduated from the College of St. Thomas and earned a doctorate in chemistry from Iowa State University before joining Honeywell in 1956. The senior research scientist went on to head Honeywell’s aerospace, defense, control and information systems before becoming CEO in 1987. He and Elizabeth Mitchell married and had five children. She died of breast cancer at age 43, leaving him a single parent. Renier is survived by wife Chriss; sons Mike, Joe, Dan, and Mark; daughters Beth, Jessica, Anna, Rebecca; and 17 grandchildren.