Even as a small child Earl Geiger was eager for adventure.While playing in his rural Iowa hometown on a Saturday morning Earl saw a barnstormer land in an open field and offer airplane rides for $1.50. Earl ran home as fast as he could to grab his paper route savings so that he could be the first to go up with the pilot. Others in town were afraid but not this small boy who never forgot the ride of a lifetime!

Earl came by his brave spirit naturally. When Earl’s father William fell in love with Dora Ahrens, an “outsider” to his tight knit Amana Colonies community, he left his home to marry this young telephone switchboard operator. At that time members of the Amana Colonies were not allowed to marry outside the community.

As a youngster while squirrel hunting with friends, Earl was accidently shot through his neck.He hitched a ride to the hospital on the running board of a farmer’s truck. Earl claims he managed to survive only by insisting the hospital staff give him hot lemonade which stopped the bleeding in his throat. This incident resulted in Earl’s signature husky voice.

Earl called on farmers with his father, an Extension Agent who worked with farmers on improving agriculture practices.At this young age, Earl became excited about all the new ideas of the time for agriculture, such as rotation of crops and hybrid corn. This interest in innovation would stick with Earl throughout his long and successful career.

By age of 11, Earl owned his own Guernsey calf, which he showed at the Iowa State Fair. Each year his father bought another calf for him to show. By the time Earl started farming, he owned ten milk cows.

Earl grew up quickly. When he was only 14 his father died and his mother was severely injured in a car accident. Earl and his younger sister survived the crash.Because their three older siblings were at university, Earl cared for his little sister, working at various jobs during the year their mother was hospitalized. Once his mother recovered from her injuries, the family moved to Ames, IA where Earl attended Ames high school. He was selected for the All Conference football team.He was a running back, playing both offense and defense. He won an award for the highest grades in history classes.

After high school graduation, Earl ran a farm north of Brooklyn, IA as a partner with his uncle. Earl expanded the farm to include beef and dairy cattle, sheep, hogs, sealed corn, chopped hay, and alfalfa and designed an innovative three-story chicken barn highlighted in the local newspaper in an article titled “The Chickens That Live in the Ritz”Earl bought a tractor with the $750 he had from his dad’s insurance.

During a 4-H tour, Earl met Ginny Brush when he visited her family’s farm to see the calf she raised for the county fair. He was immediately smitten! Earl and Ginny enjoyed many of the same things, especially dancing. Three years later, on July 31, 1941 they eloped. Without the blessing of their respective parents, they drove to Missouri to get married.

They began married life on their family farm, and welcomed their first son, Gary. A second baby died on the farm during birth. In 1944 Earl and Ginny moved their family to Hampton, IA for Earl’s work with Farmers Hybrid Hogs Company. Three years later, in 1947, he sold the farm, bought 50 percent of the Grinnellian Seed Company, and the family moved to Grinnell, IA. Earl and Ginny enjoyed the Grinnell community.Earl became the first Jaycees president. It was here their first daughter, Mary Lynn, was born.

Earl was a natural innovator and entrepreneur.He worked on many business ventures, including an anhydrous ammonia fertilizer business and a farm he rented out on a share basis. Earl sold Grinnellian Seed in 1949 to Cargill of Minneapolis. He remained in Grinnell, overseeing the construction of seed-corn plants in Aurora, NE, and Mount Pleasant, IA for Cargill.

The family moved to Minneapolis in 1953 when Earl became head of Cargill’s seed-production division.They settled in Edina, where their daughter Jane was born.

In 1956 Earl purchased 50 percent of Larson Boat Works in Little Falls, MN where the family moved and son, Tom was born. The family’s time in Little Falls became life defining. Earl and Ginny formed lifelong friendships, the boat business thrived and they built their beloved home on Gull Lake.

Earl, as the managing partner with Paul Larson, steered Larson Boats to a new manufacturing process, in conjunction with Remington Rand, inventing a revolutionary fiberglass gun that made the production of boats faster, less costly and improved the quality of the hulls. Sales of Larson fiberglass boats grew fast and Larson became the largest runabout boat manufacturer in the world. After greatly expanding Larson, Earl sold Larson to Brunswick of Chicago in 1960 and the family returned to Edina.

In 1961 Earl, in partnership with Carl Pohlad, began to buy and sell seven banks. In 1963 he bought Oil-Dyne, a hydraulics company that invented a widely used inoculation gun, and developed a pump for a deep-sea submersible operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. After three years he sold Oil-Dyne to Racine Hydraulics but remained on its board. Also in 1963, at the request of Little Falls businesspeople, Earl bought back into Larson Boat Works and worked to revitalize the company as its president from his office in Edina. In 1966 Larson purchased Glaspar Boats and Larson Industries went public. The Minnesota Marketing Association named Larson Industries “Marketing Company of the Year.”

Under Earl’s leadership Larson Industries bought C. A. Lund Company and Northland Skis of St. Paul to produce new lines of skis for amateurs and professionals with the expert involvement and endorsement of Olympic Gold winner Stein Erikson. In addition, Larson Industries owned Northland Hockey sticks, which claimed 90 percent of the market. In 1967, Larson acquired Rolite, Inc., manufacturer of travel trailers.

In 1970 Earl decided to leave Larson Industries for other business pursuits. The Geiger family bought a bank in Holstein, IA, and formed Geiger (holding) Corporation. Over the next few years Geiger bought six more banks—in Pennock, MN, and Aurelia, Alta, Galva, Anthon, and Sioux City, IA, rebranding all of them as “Heritage Bank.” While still in banking, in 1980, Earl purchased Warren Company, dealing in incentive gift products, and made it the first to import the popular AirPot. Into whatever field he ventured, Earl had a natural talent for business and innovation

Beyond his many business successes, Earl’s great love was his wife, Ginny, and their family and countless friends. Earl joined Ginny as a member of the Catholic Church where he was an active member of St. John the Evangelist in Hopkins, Pax Christie in Eden Prairie, The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis and Trustee of St. Thomas of the Pines at Gull Lake. Earl followed Ginny through life and in death, passing way just hours after his beloved Ginny.

Ginny and Earl are survived by their four children: Gary (Nancy Egerstrom) Geiger, Mary Lynn VanDyke, Jane Ellen Salland (Andrea Falconieri) and Thomas William (Cindy Woodward) Geiger; 12 grandchildren: Christopher, Adam (Jennifer Galvelis), Luke (Allison Rice), Bill (Alison Daly), Jane (Chris) McGowan, Patrick (Blythe Sobol) Salland, Elizabeth (Jay) Urban , Kenneth (Yalin Chen) Geiger, Daniel (Phuong Nguyen) Geiger, Lynn (Aleja Ortiz) Geiger, Theodore, and Jacob Geiger; and 14 great-grandchildren: Maxwell and Celeste Geiger; Claire, William, and Charles VanDyke; and Caitlin and CJ Claggett, Jordan Robinson, Pearl Geiger, Owen and Crosby Geiger, Tobin Salland, Lillith Geiger and Maya Geiger.