Richard "Dick" Hentges

One of North Dakota’s most colorful political figures and former mayor of Fargo, Dick Hentges died Thursday at age 82 after a brief battle with cancer. Richard Anthony Hentges was born July 22, 1934 in Petersburg, ND to Lillian Lucille Phelan and Anthony Joseph Hentges. He was the second oldest of five children, one brother and three sisters. The family moved to Grand Forks, ND when he was six years old and he graduated from St. James Catholic High School there in 1952. Serving in the US Army during the Korean conflict, he was stationed at Fort Riley, KS, Fort Knox, KY and Fort Lee, VA. After his military service he returned to Grand Forks to attend the University of North Dakota, graduating in 1958 with a BA in business. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, lettered in hockey as a freshman and worked at Arnold Havig's Men's Store in Grand Forks while completing his education. After graduation, he joined the Hoffman La Roche pharmaceutical company as a sales representative, calling on pharmacies and doctors throughout North Dakota and Minnesota. In 1959 Dick married the love of his life, Lynn Graham of Devils Lake. They moved to Fargo and had three children, David Richard 1960, Kathryn Ann 1961, and Robert Michael 1969. Two other sons, Richard Anthony Jr. born in 1962 and Thomas Christopher in 1965, died in infancy. During the blizzard of 1966, he left the pharmaceutical business and joined his friend James Reed’s real estate investment company, Reed Investment. In 1976 he left Reed to form his own business The Hentges Company, which he built into a highly successful commercial real estate investment firm. Dick’s love of country, state and city engendered a need to become involved and to contribute, “pay his civic rent”, as he always said. So after becoming a Republican precinct committeeman in 1966, he went on to be elected and serve in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1968 to 1974. In 1974 the young politician challenged Fargo’s 20-year incumbent Democratic mayor, Herschel Lashkowitz, and won an upset victory. Dick is remembered as one of the most accessible and visionary of Fargo’s mayors. His leadership in pursuing the funding, design and creation of an extraordinary project for the arts, the Fargo-Moorhead Cultural Bridge, is one of his defining legacies. The proposed art center, historical museum, concert hall, and bridge connecting two cities, two counties, and two states attracted national attention and a world-class architect, Michael Graves, to the city. Although the project was cancelled after a populist referendum in 1978, which lost the mayor a second term, the FM Cultural Bridge lives on as a seminal piece of Graves’ architectural design, still studied in schools of architecture around the world. Dick remained involved in Fargo’s civic life as a member of Fargo’s Airport Authority until 1996 and a board member of the Cass County Economic Development Corporation. An avid golfer, he was a member of the Fargo Country Club for fifty years. And as a devout Catholic he remained involved in parish life at Fargo’s Sts. Anne and Joachim Catholic Church. In retirement, Dick’s monumental garden projects around the Hentges’ new house on Fargo’s Timberline Drive near Rose Creek were an outlet for his ever positive and energetic spirit. In 2016 he canned 60 jars of fruits and vegetables he’d grown and nurtured. He was a great cook, also loved to read, kayak and travel. But his greatest joy was always in spending time with his very close-knit family, particularly his eight grandchildren, whom he adored. Dick was preceded in death by his parents and two infant sons. He is survived by his wife, Lynn, son David of Tempe, AZ., daughter Kathy Jackson  (Steve) of Eagan, MN, son Robert (Nicole) of Phoenix, grandchildren: Manny, Kyle (Erin), Tony, Sarah, Jacob, Kale and Carmell, and great granddaughter Isla. He is also survived by his siblings, Colleen Dolan, Naperville, Il, Collette Brosch, Eden Prairie, MN., Robert Hentges, Thompson Falls, MT., Paulette Brannon, (Chuck) San Diego, CA. and scores of loving nieces and nephews. There will be a Prayer Service at Boulger Funeral Home and Celebration of Life Center at 7:00 pm Wednesday with visitation from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. The funeral Mass will be at Sts. Anne and Joachim Catholic Church at 10:30 am Thursday. Interment at Riverside Cemetery, Fargo. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Great Plains Food Bank at http://www.greatplainsfoodbank.org/get-involved/donate/memorials-tributes.html or Hospice Red River Valley at https://www.hrrv.org/giving/memorial-and-tribute-gifts/.