Obituary of Frederic David Nordeen

Fred Nordeen, of Burnsville, MN, died peacefully September 16th surrounded by his family. He was 79 years old.

Fred’s was a life of contributions — to family always, to his wife and best friend Kay (Katie), to his five children and 11 grandchildren, to lifelong friends, coworkers, and neighbors and to Menogyn and the Boundary Waters.

In every situation, professional or personal, Fred aimed for integrity. He was calm, logical, patient, measured with his words, exceptionally intelligent, organized, committed, eternally optimistic, and genuinely sincere. He had what you’d call “character” in abundance. And it made him an incredible husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, leader, and citizen.

Born October 22, 1944, in Sharon, Connecticut, to Chet and Alcy Nordeen and raised in Edina, Frederic David Nordeen was the third of four children. At an early age, he was taking the city bus to the downtown Minneapolis YMCA, where he would attend Fun Camp and discover his talent for swimming.

The pool, the Y, and that independence intersected to instruct much of Fred’s life thereafter.

He starred in swimming at Edina High School and then Lawrence University where he also served proudly as president of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

The summer after his junior year in high school, Fred began as a canoe guide at the YMCA’s Camp Menogyn on West Bearskin Lake with immediate portage access to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Fred guided canoe trips for campers throughout the BWCA for six summers, impacting countless youth along the way.

Fred and three other guides bought a lot on West Bearskin and, over three summers, built a rustic A-frame known to all the families and friends who still cherish time there as “the Cabin.”

Aside from wherever his family was, Fred most longed to be at the Cabin, Menogyn, or anywhere in the BWCA where his values of work, adventure, independence, teamwork, and camaraderie were sharpened. He looked especially forward to annual reunions at the Cabin with fellow Menogyn alums and lifelong friends, the Men of the North, as they call themselves.

After Lawrence, Fred earned his MBA from Stanford University. His Bay Area years coincided perfectly with the Summer of Love scene in San Francisco, and Fred joined his older sister Ann at concerts by some of the most iconic musicians of the era, including favorites like Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin.

After school, Fred worked as a pioneer in advanced marketing research, leading departments for several corporations, including Pilsbury, S.C. Johnson & Son, Searle, Miller Brewing Company, Lands’ End, and Ameriprise Financial. He lived for many years raising his family in Racine and Shorewood, Wisconsin, before returning to Minneapolis.

Fred’s passion — even beyond canoe trips, the weather, space, technology, dinners at a round table, stories, laughs, and current events — was his family. Nothing made him happier than when all of his kids and grandchildren were together, just as they were for a special vacation only several weeks before he died. “Look what we made,” he said to Kay (Katie), his true love of more than 44 years.

In his final week, Fred dedicated time to sit individually with each of his children and grandchildren to deliver personalized, heartfelt, thoughtful, and well-organized messages of love, support, and wisdom. He shared with each grandchild that the way for them to realize their true selves and most happiness was through treating others with respect, kindness, and compassion. To live with integrity. It’s a lesson he had modeled for all of them their whole lives.

Fred is survived by his wife Kay (Katie) Nordeen; children Kevin Nordeen (Laura), Eric Nordeen (Ann), Marc Sheforgen (Dawn), Michael Nordeen (Jenny), and Megan Wildenradt (Clark); grandchildren Ingrid, Mac, Lila, Oscar, Wesley, Leo, Sam, Miles, Molly, Elle, and Henry; sisters Ann Henry and Judy Nordeen; siblings-in-law Nancy Nordeen, Peg and Don Knueve and John and Ginny Crimmings, and many special nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. He is preceded in death by his parents, beloved big brother Tom Nordeen, niece Kate Knueve Smoker, and nephew Sandy Hendrickson.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred. To honor Fred's life, donations can be directed to Camp Menogyn, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, American Cancer Society and Friends of the Boundary Waters. Due to generous blood donors, countless blood transfusions gave us precious time with Fred. Find a local drive to donate blood in his honor.

A celebration of Fred’s life will be held at Lakewood Cemetery, 3600 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55408, on October 25th. Doors open at 9 a.m. and the service will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a reception to follow.