Irv Anderson dies; Northland mourns

Former House speaker and longtime former State Rep. Irv Anderson (DFL-International Falls) died Monday morning at age 85. This short breaking story comes from the Mesabi Daily News and will be updated for the morning edition. There will be many obituaries recorded across the state on Tuesday that will show a fuller picture of the man’s work, but it should be noted that at the time of his retirement in 2006 Irv was the last WWII veteran in the State House of Representatives. Anderson was a very powerful legislator, who lost his power in a series of painful elections, and then fought his way back into the legislature and all the way back to become Speaker of the House. He was a tough customer, but he was tough because he had to be tough to protect his hometown and all the rural residents of District 3A. He’ll be remembered for a very long time all around Minnesota. As my friend Rep. Tom Anzelc always said when he was running to succeed Anderson in 2006: “I am running to follow Irv, because no one could replace him.”