Beverly M. Scalze (October 27, 1943 – June 23, 2021) was an American politician who served as a member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

and the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are hel ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Represen ...

(DFL), she represented District 42 in the Senate, which included portions of Ramsey County in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

metropolitan area.

Early life, education, and career

Scalze graduated from

Lake of the Woods High School Lake of the Woods High School is a Public school (government funded), public high school located in Baudette, Minnesota, United States. The Lake of the Woods School organization operates both an elementary and a high school. References Extern ...

Baudette Baudette is a city in, and the county seat of, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,106, and in 2018 the population was estimated at 1,003. Baudette is known as the Walleye Capital of th ...

. She later attended the College of Visual Arts in

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

and

Century College Century College is a two-year community college and technical college in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. It is a member of the Minnesota State system. It was founded in 1967 as Lakewood State Junior College and in 1996 merged with Northeast Metro Te ...

in White Bear Lake, receiving her

A.D. The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

and A.A. in art. She was a technician at 3M from 1962 to 1966, and was owner-artist of Scalze's from 1966 to 1996. She was the owner and operator of Hoffman Corner Heating and Air Conditioning in White Bear Lake, beginning in 1996. Scalze was active in her local community and in state government for many years. From 1979 to 2002, she served as a member of the Little Canada City Council. Scalze was the founder and coordinator of the local Multi-Housing Safety Coalition from 1996 to 2002, a member of the board of trustees of the Suburban Area

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

from 1980 to 1989, president of the Ramsey County League of Local Governments from 1989 to 1990, and vice president of the Little Canada Parent-Teacher Association. She also served as a member of the Ramsey County Riverfront Facilities Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, as a member of the

Minnesota Attorney General The attorney general of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. State of Minnesota. Thirty individuals have held the office of Attorney General since statehood. The incumbent is Keith Ellison, a DFLer. Electi ...

's Task Force on Pharmaceuticals, Medicare and Family Health and Task Force for Information Technology, and as a delegate to the Rush Line Corridor Task Force.

Minnesota Legislature

Scalze was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2004, and was re-elected in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. She was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and served on the Finance subcommittees for the Capital Investment Finance Division, of which she was vice chair, the Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, and the Health Care and Human Services Finance Division, and on the State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Subcommittee for the Local Government Division. In the

2012 Minnesota Senate election The 2012 Minnesota Senate election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 6, 2012, to elect members to the Senate of the 88th and 89th Minnesota Legislatures. A primary election was held in several districts on August 14, 2012. ...

, Scalze ran for the seat for District 42 and defeated April King, receiving 55.57% of the vote. Scalze focused on clean water, infrastructure, and local government issues. Scalze served as vice chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee. She did not seek re-election in 2016.

Personal life

In 1991, Scalze's painting of a

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

won the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' annual Trout and Salmon Habitat Stamp Contest. Scalze died of cancer on June 23, 2021.

References

External links

Minnesota Public Radio Votetracker: Rep. Bev Scalze
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scalze, Bev 1943 births 2021 deaths 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Deaths from cancer in Minnesota Democratic Party Minnesota state senators People from Baudette, Minnesota People from Ramsey County, Minnesota Women state legislators in Minnesota