Lakes philanthropist 'Bud' Pearson passes away

(File Photo) Gerald L. "Bud" Pearson held a love of art throughout his life. His favorite painting "Shostekovich and Mravinsky," pictured in the background, is on exhibit at the Pearson Lakes Art Center, an organization which was named in honor of the Pearson family in the spring of 2007.

The Lakes area lost a legend this week as Pearson Lakes Art Center philanthropist and Brooks Golf Course developer Gerald L. "Bud" Pearson passed away Monday evening.

Pearson was 82. He had suffered from primary lateral sclerosis for the past few years. Funeral services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 28 at the Good News Community Church in Okoboji. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 27 at the Warner Funeral Home in Spencer with the family present from 5-7 p.m.

In the past half-century, Bud proved himself to be a valued entrepreneur, philanthropist and businessman in the Lakes area and beyond.

Pearson's life began in Trimont, Minn., where his father immigrated to from Sweden. When he was just eight years old, Bud's mother passed away and he moved in with an aunt and uncle, who he credited as the major mentors of his life.

After graduating from high school in 1943, Bud enlisted in the Navy. In the final years of World War II, he served aboard a ship in the South Pacific. When he finished his military career in 1946, Bud went into business, created the Trimont Packing Company with his brother and uncle. In the same year, Bud and his wife, Beverly, were married.

Disaster struck in 1952, when the company's plant was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. For Bud, the loss actually provided the momentum for a major life change. A plant came up for sale in Spencer, and the move led to the creation of Spencer Foods, a beef-packing company that quickly grew into a major employer in the area. Bud took on a number of roles within the company, including chairman, president, and later chief executive officer. The company became public in 1965, and by the early 1970s, Spencer Foods was the third-largest American beef-packing company. In 1978, Bud sold the business to the Minnesota-based Land O' Lakes company.

During their time in Spencer, Bud and his family maintained a summer residence in Okoboji and a deep interest in the area's resources and culture. The family enjoyed spending summers on and around the lake and found solace in the area after the untimely deaths of two of the four Pearson children during the early 1970s.

At the same time, Bud and Beverly began discussing the creation of an art foundation. Mrs. Pearson had been a longtime amateur artist and the couple wanted to share their love of art with the community. In 1971, they created the Pearson Art Foundation.

By the late 1980s, the couple had moved permanently to Okoboji and decided to move their art back to the Midwest and to the Lakes area.

With Berkley Bedell and the University of Okoboji Foundation, the Pearsons helped build the Lakes Art Center, which opened in 1991. The art center honored the Pearson Family in 2007 by renaming it the Pearson Lakes Art Center. Today, the center has grown to include interactive galleries, a performing arts auditorium and several classrooms. The Pearsons' most recent gift was in late 2007 when the family funded a new $2 million Visual Arts Wing. They also donated their Russian Soviet Impressionist art collection to PLAC, which is now on permanent exhibition in the facility. The collection is valued at over $1 million.

Along with his love of art, Bud also had a passion for golf. Though he had played golf since age 26, Bud became heavily involved in the sport in the early 1990s. In 1994, he purchased Brooks Golf Course in Okoboji and expanded the course to 27 holes in 1999. In that year, Bud also added a nine-hole "Scottish Links" section of the course, which reflected his own favorite places to golf.

Pearson was featured in the Dickinson County News special section "Portraits of the Iowa Great Lakes" in 2006 when he told his interviewer that his life has been about following dreams and sharing his success.

"You've got to dream, that's for sure," Bud said in 2006. "I think with me, what you see is what you get. I've been very fortunate in business and I like to share that luck."

Former DCN reporter Erin Golden contributed to this story.