Kathleen Ann Blatz (born July 22, 1954) is a former

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

judge and legislator. She served as the interim chair of the

Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) is the public authority that owns and operates U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was established in 2012 by the Minnesota Legislature as the successor organization to the Metropolit ...

, which governs the

U.S. Bank Stadium U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...

Early life and education

Blatz was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

to Kay and Jerome Blatz. She attended high school at the Academy of Holy Angels in

Richfield, Minnesota Richfield is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling. An inner ring suburb of Minneapolis, it is bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Minn ...

, and received her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

''summa cum laude'' from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

. Blatz received degrees from the

University of Minnesota Law School The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent Law ...

and the University of Minnesota School of Social Work.

Career

Blatz served in 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 ...

from 1979 to 1994. She was appointed a

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

district court judge in 1994, an associate justice of the

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court wa ...

on November 1, 1996, and Chief Justice on January 29, 1998. She retired from the court on January 10, 2006, and was succeeded as Chief Justice by Russell A. Anderson.

Personal life

Blatz is the daughter of the late Mary Kathleen "Kaye" McMahon Blatz (1926-1996) and Jerome Blatz (1923-2009). She was the second of nine children. On June 2, 1984, in Hennepin County, she married Thomas Roger Berkelman (b. 1949), a Minnesota State Legislator from 1977 to 1983. He was previously divorced with one daughter, Lindsey Ann Berkelman. Together, Kathleen and Tom have three sons: Hunter Blatz Berkelman (b. 1986), Carter Blatz Berkelman (b. 1988), and Maxwell Blatz "Max" Berkelman (b. 1992). They divorced around 2000. She married Wheelock Whitney Jr., a businessman and politician, in 2005. He died in 2016.Peter Cox and MPR News staff
"Wheelock Whitney dies at 89"
''

MPR News Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...

'', May 20, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatz, Kathleen A. 1954 births Living people Chief Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court Lawyers from Minneapolis Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Minnesota state court judges Politicians from Minneapolis University of Minnesota Law School alumni University of Notre Dame alumni Whitney family Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States Women state legislators in Minnesota 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges