Irvin Devitt Rustad

Irvin’s services will be livestreamed below:

Irvin Devitt Rustad of Fargo, North Dakota, passed away peacefully on September 6, 2026, at the age of 82, leaving a legacy of service, leadership, faith, and family.

Born on January 17, 1944, in Long Beach, California, to Arthur “Bob” and Cecile (Devitt) Rustad, Irv was the oldest of five children. Growing up on 4th Street in Fargo, just a few blocks from the Red River, he spent his childhood surrounded by siblings, cousins, and lifelong friends. He attended St. Anthony of Padua parochial school and graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1961.

His stories from those years include playing saxophone in the band alongside fellow musician Bobby Vee, hanging out at the Canteen on Saturday nights, and even getting involved in a few teenage brawls under the big tree at the Detroit Lakes Pavilion (“I never started the fight—but I finished it”).

In 1962, after a year in college where he joined the “Athletic Club” (the football team) where he played two games as a third-string quarterback and was in ROTC, Irv enlisted in the United States Navy. He served as an Air Crewman aboard a P2V Neptune aircraft flying from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington in the Vietnam War. He was honorably discharged on October 7, 1966 and entered the reserves. He was discharged from the reserves on October 7, 1968.

After returning from military service, Irv graduated from North Dakota State University in 1971 with degrees in Business Economics and Earth Sciences and later earned his teaching certificate. While attending NDSU, Irv served as president of the Veteran’s Club, helping lead and support fellow veterans as they transitioned from military service to college life.

Irv met Lynann Carlson in October, 1966 at a mutual friend’s Halloween party. They shared a love for dancing and spent many dates dancing to the music of local bands. They married on December 9, 1967, at St Anthony of Padua, the church Irv attended all his life and served as an acolyte (with a smile on his face, he would remind his family that he was acolyte of the year in grade school). They raised their family, Elizabeth, Mark, and Mathew, in Fargo (except for two years in Hawley, MN).

During grade school Irv helped his dad at Rustad’s Upholstery. During high school he worked as a carry-out bag-boy at Dahl’s Supervalu, bagging groceries. In college he drove a dump truck for Northern Improvement, tended bar at The Flame, worked in marketing and sales for DeKalb Seed, and later managed the Norseman Lounge in Hawley, MN before becoming the executive Director of Model Cities Housing and Economic Development Corporation in 1974. In 1976 that corporation became Lake Agassiz Regional Council and Economic Development Corp, which provided planning and development services to six eastern North Dakota counties. Irv served as the Council’s executive director.

Under his leadership, communities secured housing, infrastructure improvements, economic development opportunities, and resources that allowed small towns to grow. Among Irv’s many community development efforts was the creation of senior living communities in rural North Dakota, allowing older adults to remain near family, lifelong friends, churches, and hometowns instead of relocating to larger cities.

Another of Irv’s visionary ideas was the creation of the Regional Small Business Center in downtown Fargo. Long before entrepreneurship became a common economic development strategy, Irv recognized that many small businesses could achieve sustainability more quickly with shared business resources, collaboration, and mentorship. Under his leadership, the Lake Agassiz Regional Development Corporation opened the Regional Small Business Center, creating one of North Dakota’s pioneering business incubators.

Following the devastating Red River floods of 1997 and 2009, Irv championed one of the largest and most complex community recovery efforts in eastern North Dakota. Through the Lake Agassiz Regional Council, he led a coordinated partnership with federal agencies like FEMA, HUD, EDA, USDA, and SBA; the State of North Dakota; and multiple counties, cities, and local leaders to execute funding, planning, and logistics to help families move to safer ground. The large-scale effort included relocating, demolishing, or auctioning homes and restoring flood-prone land to permanent open space in cities and towns across the region. Irv felt especially connected to this work after the 1958 Red River flood temporarily displaced his own family from their home when he was a teenager.

When Irv retired in 2014, his colleagues honored his decades of leadership by naming the corporate office building on the corner of 4th and Main in Fargo, The Irv Rustad Regional Small Business Center.

Irv volunteered his time to his community in many roles. He served on the Nativity Church Parish Council, as president of the Shanley School Board, and on the Fargo-Moorhead Athletics Board of Directors. Over the course of forty-five years, Irv coached FM Athletics youth football, beginning in 1980 when he coached his two sons, and later coaching his nephews and grandson. He also coached a Fargo City Basketball League when his daughter played and later led a women’s softball team to a state championship in 1992. As a coach, he taught the value of discipline, preparation, accountability, excellence, and attention to detail. Those lessons stayed with many of his players long after their seasons ended.

Irv enjoyed spending weekends on Lake Lizzie and trips around the globe. He looked forward to weekly breakfast clubs with his brothers, brothers-in-law, nephews and nephews-in-law. Before his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis in 2001, Irv enjoyed golfing and playing in the family’s annual Brothers and Relatives Annual Golf (BRAG) tournament, where he was a three-time champion. He often went sailing in his catamaran, boating, bowling, water skiing, and goose hunting. A poker player since his days in the Navy, Irv competed in local pinochle and Texas hold ’em tournaments, often with his late brother, Richard. Irv was a NDSU Team Maker and avid Bison fan, attending many national football championships.

Irv is survived by his beloved wife, Lynann; children Elizabeth Cox, Mark (Debra) Rustad, and Mathew Rustad; grandchildren Megan, Emma, and Sam Cox, Hailey Palluck, Jeremy (Paige) Feist, Taylor (Griffin) Helmeke, Ryan Rustad, and Sydney Rustad; great-grandchildren Mila and Cotter Helmeke and Baker Feist; sisters Donna (Craig) Phillips and Doris (Richard) Haraldson; foster brother, Patrick Anderson; sisters-in-law Lavonne Rustad, Mary Rustad, and Aldene Miller; brother-in-law Darrel “Duffy” (Deb) Carlson; and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur “Bob” and Cecile (Devitt) Rustad, brothers Richard and Randall Rustad, and brother-in-law Lawton Miller.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, NDSU Bison Team Makers, or any charity of your choice.