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| Dan Palm, 84 |
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Posted: Friday, July 10, 2009 9:04 pm
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J. Daniel Palm, age 84, professor emeritus of St. Olaf College, died Saturday, June 6, 2009, after a lengthy illness.
Dan was raised as a preacher’s kid in Hector, Minn. At age 18 he enlisted as a medic in the U.S. Army, was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and returned home. He attended Gustavus College under the G.I. Bill where he met and married the love of his life, Betty Hagen. Dan then earned a master’s and PhD from the University of Minnesota where he did early research on Huntington’s Korea. In 1956 they moved to Oshkosh, Wis., where Dan taught at Oshkosh State University and in 1962 moved to Northfield when he joined the biology department at St. Olaf College.
Dan and Betty were very active in volunteering on many projects and Dan became known for his “scrounging,” especially for computers for the Northfield Senior Center and for instruments for the St. Olaf Music Department. Dan and Betty began their worldwide treks with the St. Olaf Global Semester in 1970. Over the years they returned to India, Peru, the Philippines, China, Mongolia, Kenya, Zaire and Turkey to work on soybeans, potatoes, sesame seeds, rice and avocados as food sources. It can be said that Dan and Betty have fed and continue to feed millions of people around the globe.
Dan wrote a book on fructose, “Diet Away Your Stress, Tension, and Anxiety,” in 1976. It was reprinted many times and translated into seven languages. He was honored in 1987 with a Distinguished Alumni Citation at Gustavus and in 1988 he retired from teaching.
Dan is survived by his daughters, Becky (Thaddeus) Schroetter of Germany, and Kris (Steve) Mortensen of Northfield; son, Steve (Karen) Palm of Columbia, Md.; two sisters and 12 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty; parents; and one brother.
Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 19, 2009, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Northfield.
Memorials are preferred to St. John’s Lutheran Church or the scholarship fund he and Betty founded, the International Studies Scholarship Program at St. Olaf College.
Funeral arrangements by the Bierman Funeral Home of Northfield. |
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