Rudy Perpich; Minnesota Governor for 10 Years

Former Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich, a big-hearted dentist whose oddball ideas led to the nickname “Governor Goofy,” has died of colon cancer at his home in Minnetonka with his family at his side.

Perpich, 67, Minnesota’s longest-serving governor, died Thursday. He was governor for 10 years between 1976 and 1990.

An immigrant Croatian miner’s son who didn’t speak English when he entered first grade, Perpich was a product of the rough-and-tumble Democratic politics of northeastern Minnesota’s Iron Range.

“He was a testimony to the American dream,” said Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, a fellow Democrat.

“He came from a first-generation immigrant family and rose to be governor of a great state, and he never forgot where he came from, and he felt very strongly that dream should be available for everybody else,” he said.

Perpich earned the moniker “Governor Goofy” with such quirky ideas as selling the governor’s mansion, saying it was falling apart. Another time, he erected a billboard in protest when he wasn’t allowed to have a portrait of himself with his wife in the Capitol.

But he also was a strong supporter of education, economic development and innovative public policy.

He was proud of the number of women and minorities he appointed and boasted after leaving office: “We took pride in the barriers we broke down.”

When he left office in 1991, Minnesota was the only state with a majority of women on its Supreme Court.

His first stint as governor came about when Gov. Wendell Anderson resigned in 1976 so then-Lt. Gov. Perpich succeeded him. He then appointed Anderson to the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Walter F. Mondale.

Perpich is survived by his wife, Lola, a son and a daughter. Funeral arrangements are pending.