Brandl, former state lawmaker and scholar, dies

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — John Brandl, a highly respected former state legislator and public policy expert who also served as dean of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute, died Monday.

Brandl, 70, died at his son’s home in Minnetrista after a battle with gastric cancer, said his wife, Rochelle Brandl.
Brandl, a graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville and Harvard University, joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1968. He was still a professor at the Humphrey Institute and a distinguished professor of public policy at St. John’s at the time of his death. He was dean of the Humphrey Institute from 1997-2002.

“Minnesota lost its Professor of Good Public Policy today, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said in a statement. “Throughout his lengthy career in Minnesota public service, John Brandl made invaluable contributions to the state’s political and economic dialogue and his innate wisdom will be sorely missed. His keen insight into how to make government work better for all people will be his legacy to Minnesotans.”

Brandl, a Democrat known for bucking the prevailing orthodoxy, served in the Minnesota House from 1977-78 and 1981-86, and in the Minnesota Senate from 1987-90, representing parts of south Minneapolis.

He also served in the federal government as deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1968-69, and in positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Economic Development Administration..

St. John’s President Dietrich Reinhart called Brandl “a giant in Minnesota politics and economics.”

“He combined a brilliant mind for scholarship with an usual ability to apply theory and research as a public servant in numerous policy-making positions, both in Minnesota and at the national level,” Reinhart said in a statement.

J. Brian Atwood, the current dean of the Humphrey Institute, said Brandl was an outstanding member of the university community.

“John was a superb scholar, a highly effective public servant, and a wonderful human being,” Atwood said in a statement. “He will forever be remembered as a role model for our public affairs students.”

Brandl is survived by his wife and three children: Christopher, Mary Katherine and Amy. Funeral arrangements were pending at Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapel in Edina.

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