Stanley W. Holmquist (August 23, 1909 – May 15, 2003) was an American businessman and educator. He 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 ...

and was a former

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader This is a list of majority leaders of the Minnesota Senate. The Majority Leader is the head of the majority party in the Minnesota Senate, and is the most powerful political figure in the body. List Notes on Minnesota political party name ...

Background

Holmquist was born in

Hallock, Minnesota Hallock is a city in and the county seat of Kittson County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 906 at the 2020 census. History Hallock was platted in 1879. The city was named for Charles Hallock, an American writer. Hallock was inc ...

. He was the son of Minnesota State Representative, Victor Holmquist. He attended Minnehaha Academy High School and the

Augustana Lutheran Synod The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church (previously the Augustana Lutheran Synod and also Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod in North America and Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod in North America) was a Lutheran church ...

Minnesota College. He graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

; B.S.; (1936) and M.A.; Educational Administration, (1940). He worked as a

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

dealer and in 1942, he started a family owned lumber business. Holmquist later served as Superintendent and Principal of Grove City schools.

Career

He was first elected to the

in 1946, and later was elected to 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 ...

in 1954. Holmquist served as the

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

of the Conservative Caucus in the

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

senate from 1967 until his retirement in 1973.

Personal life

In 1938, he married Edith Maria Johnson, who was the sister of Eleanor Anne Johnson, wife of future Minnesota Governor,

Elmer Lee Andersen Elmer Lee Andersen (June 17, 1909 – November 15, 2004) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who built a successful business career with the H. B. Fuller Company. Andersen was most notably the 30th Governor of Minnesota ...

References

1909 births 2003 deaths People from Hallock, Minnesota University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development alumni Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Republican Party Minnesota state senators American Lutherans 20th-century American politicians American people of Swedish descent 20th-century Lutherans {{Minnesota-politician-stub