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Daniel Leo Feist

Birth	:	16 May 1932 McHenry County, North Dakota, USA
Death	:	18 Dec 2017 Minot, Ward County, North Dakota, USA
Burial	:	Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate	:	48.2238998, -101.2866974
Description	:	Daniel Leo Feist, who was raised on a McHenry County farm and livestock ranch and later became one of the giants of the Minot building industry, died Monday, December 18, 2017, at his home. He was 85 years old and had been battling cancer for several weeks. He and his four brothers—Anthony, Edward, Paul, and Richard—arrived in Minot around the mid-fifties as newcomers among the established building contractors. In time, they became frontrunners. All had known hard work from the farm days of their Karlsruhe youth and the confidence that comes from it. Why not work together and be part of... Read More	Daniel Leo Feist, who was raised on a McHenry County farm and livestock ranch and later became one of the giants of the Minot building industry, died Monday, December 18, 2017, at his home. He was 85 years old and had been battling cancer for several weeks. He and his four brothers—Anthony, Edward, Paul, and Richard—arrived in Minot around the mid-fifties as newcomers among the established building contractors. In time, they became frontrunners. All had known hard work from the farm days of their Karlsruhe youth and the confidence that comes from it. Why not work together and be part of a growing Minot, they decided. They established five companies that supplied most of what they needed for housing and commercial construction, beginning with Feist Construction Co. A booklet written for a 2005 family reunion noted: “They started with lots of ambition and guts, two shovels, one wheelbarrow, a one-ton International truck for which Ed traded his Buick, and some credit support from Uncle Charles.” The other corporations: Feist Company Inc., Magic City Lumber, Minot Sash and Door Inc., and Feist Cupboards. Dan also owned Feist Realty Co. and the Feist Ranch northeast of Velva which he maintained from 1964 to 1988. In a side venture, he founded and owned Riverside Farms in Lodi, California, from 1989 to 1999. That move was sparked in part by the fact he had several sisters living in California. His three sons followed him into the construction business. Feist Construction ceased operations several years ago. As he prospered, Dan developed an interest in philanthropy through the Minot Rotary Club and its humanitarian projects, and the Minot Area Community Foundation (MACF), of which he was a founder. Many of his contributions were specific, including a valuable plot of land given this year to Bishop Ryan Catholic School. He was born May 16, 1932, at Karlsruhe, one of fifteen children of Frank A. and Catherine (Senger) Feist. After elementary school at Verendrye and graduation from Karlsruhe High School, he spent a year working for the Morrison Knutson Co. in Seattle, Washington. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1952 to 1955 during the Korean War, earning a meritorious promotion as an outstanding Marine. Following his discharge, he returned to Karlsruhe where he married Regina (Jean) Merck on February 4, 1958. Two years later, they moved to Minot where they since have lived. Throughout his life as a builder, Dan kept acquiring more property that enabled him to expand on housing and commercial projects throughout the city. A large section of that land was in northwest Minot. In recent years, it included the property where the Marketplace Foods neighborhood was developed. When he joined the Minot Rotary Club in 1972, he learned about the accomplishments of the Rotary International Foundation’s humanitarian projects. His first $1,000 donation to the foundation made him the Minot club’s first Paul Harris Fellow. He had followed his initial gift with an editorial in Rotary’s Prairie Flower publication. In it, he asked fellow Rotarians to imagine a world free of hunger, a world filled with new ideas, a world where disease is defeated, a world with mutual respect among people of all faiths, races and cultures. “Those funds go to peace and to help people in the world. That really got to me,” he said then. In 1984, he and his longtime fishing buddy and fellow Rotarian Mike Dolan engineered the formation of the Rotary Scholarship Foundation, a separate entity within the Minot club with its own bylaws. They started it through a fund drive among members and pledges from some local businesses. Dan and Mike Dolan then joined Ken Kitzman and Ken Williams of Minot as founders in 1999 of the Minot Area Community Foundation (MACF), known as the center for community giving. The Rotary scholarship fund now is a permanent endowment fund held at MACF. Since its inception, the scholarship fund has awarded 709 scholarships totaling $627,000 to Minot area high school seniors. Dan was a charter member of Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET), founded in 1970. He was a trustee and board member and served on a number of IRET committees. He was a charter member and director of North Dakota Holdings and of Central Venture Capital. Both were Minot companies. He was a director of Minot Builders Supply Association. He was a member and office holder of the Minot Board of Realtors, served as president in 1967-68, and was Realtor of the Year in 1968. He also was a member of the Minot Multiple Listings Service, the North Dakota Association of Realtors, the National Association of Real Estate Boards, the National Institute of Real Estate Brokers, the Minot and National Association of Home Builders, National Federation of Independent Business, Associated General Contractors of North Dakota and Associated General Contractors of America. He was a director of First Bank of North Dakota. He drew much satisfaction from his work with Rotary and received a number of awards from the organization. They included the Distinguished Service Award and the President’s Citation Award from the scholarship foundation. He served three terms as club president. He was equally proud of MACF and its growth. The foundation currently stands at $36 million in assets and distributions. He had been a member of the Minot Chamber of Commerce since 1970. He was a recipient in 2009 of the Genie, the chamber’s first place community service award for outstanding community development. He also was a member of the Greater North Dakota Association (the state Chamber of Commerce), and of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. He held life memberships in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Elks Lodge and the National Rifle Association of America. He also was a member of the Eagles Aerie and the American Legion. He was a director of the American Red Cross. He had been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 1956, and was a Fourth Degree Knight. He served on an advisory board for the Catholic Newman Center at Minot State University in the 1980s. He was a board member of Bishop Ryan Catholic School from 1973 to 1986. He was a recipient of the Bishop Ryan “R” award, given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the school. From the time he came to Minot, he was a member of St. Leo the Great Catholic Church. He served as an usher, was a lay distributor of Holy Communion, a member of the parish finance committee, and was president of the parish council from 1983 through 1985. Hunting and fishing were his sports, and he pursued these with the same concentration and energy that he gave to building and investing. One hunting trip to Alaska is the stuff from which movies are made. It was a planned, two-week excursion. He and his sons flew on a small plane to the hunting site—the only way they could get there and get out. During the hunt he shot a moose and a caribou. As the time arrived for them to fly back home, bad weather set in. The plane’s pilot notified them he would not be coming until the weather cleared. Two more weeks passed. By then, the hunting party had run out of food and a medication one of Dan’s sons needed. All they had left to eat was what they had harvested in their hunting expedition. Dan contacted the pilot and convinced him he had to come for his group. Fortunately he had enough cash with him to persuade the pilot that their situation was dire. He came to get them, but because of existing weather and travel conditions, they were forced to leave all their gear behind. (Some of it was later shipped back.) They made it out safely. Once landed, Dan got off the plane, knelt and kissed the ground. He was aggressive in all his undertakings. On occasion, he ran into resistance at city hall over a project he proposed. He would work around it or drop it and move on. He was tough, smart, resilient, and not easily deterred. He remained close to his German-Russian roots, to his faith and his family. In 2005, he and his wife Jean celebrated the Feist family as the hosts of a reunion in Minot. Three hundred fifty people attended. Surviving Dan are his wife, Jean, of almost 60 years; daughters, Kathy (Darcy Fettig), Bismarck, Karen (Dennis Griffin), Minot, Diana (Alan Reid) Bismarck; sons, Karl, Stockton, California, Dean (Kristi), and Danny (JoLee), all of Minot; nine grandchildren, Ashley Nicole, Zachary Daniel and Jacob Benjamin Feist; Ethan Daniel, Cody Michael and Gracie Jean Feist; JaDee Marie and Gage Jameson Feist, and Clayton Anton Reid; one great-grandchild, Seth Michael Darnell; Sisters: Eva Deibert, Velva, Agnes Leier, Elk Grove, California, and Dorothy Leier, Granite Bay, California; brothers, Paul, Elk Grove, California, and Richard, Minot. He was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Anna, Katherine, Helen, Mary, Emily, Magdalene and Regina, and brothers, Anthony and Edward. Thompson-Larson Funeral Home

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Daniel Leo Feist's memorial?
Daniel Leo Feist's memorial is located at: Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot, Ward County, USA.
When did Daniel Leo Feist death?
Daniel Leo Feist death on 18 Dec 2017 in Minot, Ward County, North Dakota, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Daniel Leo Feist's memorial?
Latitude: 48.2238998
Longitude: -101.2866974

Family Members:

Parent

Siblings

Anna Mary Feist Aberle

(1916 - 1994)

Anton Wendlyn “Tony” Feist

(1925 - 2014)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Rosehill Memorial Park
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2238998, -101.2866974

2. First Lutheran Church Cemetery
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2470000, -101.2964000

3. Hebrew Cemetery
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2467400, -101.3119500

4. Zion Lutheran Cemetery (Defunct)
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2471500, -101.3111600

5. Sunset Memorial Gardens
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2997017, -101.2977982

6. Prairie Peace Fellowship Cemetery
Surrey, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2419472, -101.1341858

7. Fairview Mennonite Cemetery
Surrey, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2107760, -101.1294940

8. Grueneberg Family Cemetery
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.3268600, -101.3450600

9. Burlington Township Cemetery
Burlington, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2817421, -101.4292679

10. Drady Cemetery
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.1538048, -101.4261169

11. Trinity Lutheran Cemetery
Minot, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.3408051, -101.2533188

12. Saron Lutheran Cemetery
Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.0943985, -101.3181000

13. Old German Baptist Cemetery
Surrey, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2979758, -101.1226340

14. Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery
Surrey, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.3275681, -101.1432495

15. Whitaker Cemetery
Logan, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.1285324, -101.1252213

16. Wolff Family Cemetery
Ruthville, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.3557300, -101.3768800

17. Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery
Ruthville, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.3562851, -101.3823090

18. Burlington Township Cemetery
Des Lacs, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2452545, -101.5128174

19. Willis Cemetery
Sawyer, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.0740000, -101.2088900

20. Larson Gravesite
Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.2700000, -101.5200000

21. Kittleson Cemetery
Logan, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.1699240, -101.0572670

22. McChesney Family Cemetery
Logan, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.1537190, -101.0558510

23. Rose Valley Cemetery
South Prairie, Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.0527000, -101.3554993

24. Township Cemetery
Ward County, USA
Coordinate: 48.1847000, -101.5472031