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Tim Nelson
St. Paul, Minn.

President of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce dies

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David Olson
David Olson was president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce for more than 20 years.
MN Chamber of Commerce

The president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has died.

David Olson was 57 and had been head of the statewide business group since 1991. The chamber's senior vice president, Bill Blazar, said Olson had been battling lymphoma for about a year and a half, and had a stem-cell transplant earlier this year.

Blazar said Olson had returned to work, but grew seriously ill in the days immediately after the July 4th holiday and died last night.

He leaves behind a wife, Carolyn, and two adult sons.

Olson joined the chamber in 1990, charged with improving relations with local chambers. He had previously been president of the Twin West chamber of Commerce. He rose quickly in the state organization and became its president.

Olson was a former board member and chair of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Directors. He also served on the United Way and Northern Star Council of Boy Scouts boards of directors.

"His hallmark was listening to what Minnesota businesses and Minnesota chamber members had to say, and then acting on it... to make it more likely that they'll be successful in Minnesota and hire more Minnesotans," said Blazar. "We drove from one end of the state to the other on a regular basis, every season of the year."

Business and political leaders noted his passing around the state this year, including Gov. Mark Dayton who called him a "true gentleman," despite a flare up of tensions between the Dayton adminsitration at the chamber in 2013.