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Business and Economic News
Hannah Yang

Haskell’s wine shops owner, Twin Cities media personality Jack Farrell, dies at 82

Jack Farrell
 John “Jack” Farrell died from natural causes last month. He was the CEO of Haskell’s Wine and Spirits.
Nikki Tundel | MPR News

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John “Jack” Farrell — the Twin Cities wine mogul and one of the Midwest’s most celebrated connoisseurs — died “suddenly” at the age of 82 from natural causes, according to his obituary. 

The CEO of Haskell’s Wine and Spirits — a specialty wine chain — passed away on July 27, the store’s Facebook page confirmed in a post from over the weekend. 

“Dearly missed, his legacy lives on in each of his Haskell’s stores,” the post reads. 

Farrell was born on Jan. 17, 1942, in Chicago as the oldest of seven and studied pharmacy at Butler University in Indianapolis. He started a business career at Gold Seal Co. in North Dakota as a salesman.

He ended up buying Haskell’s in 1970 and was considered a wine and spirits expert within the industry for more than five decades and oversaw each store location in the Twin Cities area. 

His obituary described Farrell as having a bucket list of traveling the world seeking new wine values and sharing these wines for decades on his “Entertaining Ideas” weekly radio show on WCCO. A mentor to many within the industry, Farrell was named Retailer of the Year in 2019 by Market Watch Magazine. 

According to Haskell’s website, they served wines for different heads of state, including the White House and Buckingham Palace. They also say they helped plan wine and food for the leader of the former Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev when he visited Minnesota in 1990.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at the Basilica of St. Mary at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 23.