15 Facts About Carl Pohlad

Carl Ray Pohlad was an American financier from Minnesota.

In 2009, Carl Pohlad had an estimated net worth of $3.6 billion, placing him 102nd on the annual Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans.

Carl Pohlad was born on August 23,1915, in Valley Junction, Iowa, to poor parents of Slovak descent, Mary M and Michael Pohlad.

Carl Pohlad grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa and graduated from Valley High School in West Des Moines in 1934.

Carl Pohlad attended and played football for Compton Junior College in Southern California for a short time.

Carl Pohlad attended Gonzaga but dropped out after the football season of his senior year.

Carl Pohlad was drafted in World War II and served from 1943 to 1946.

Carl Pohlad was scheduled to participate in the Normandy Invasion, but a case of poison oak kept him out of the invasion's early stages.

Carl Pohlad was wounded in battle, and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal.

Carl Pohlad got his start in the banking business by foreclosing farms during the Great Depression.

Carl Pohlad was the Vice President of Carl Pohlad Companies, which owns several companies large and small, including Marquette Financial Companies, United Properties, River Road Entertainment, Stanton Group Holdings, Arcadia Solutions, KTWN FM Radio Station, and JB Hudson's Jewelers in the Twin Cities, as well as a controlling interest in PepsiAmericas, the second-largest bottling group in the United States.

Carl Pohlad claimed he was close to selling the Twins in 1997 to North Carolina businessman Don Beaver, who would have moved the team to the Piedmont Triad area of the state.

Carl Pohlad owned a part of the Minnesota Vikings from the mid-1980s to 1991.

Carl Pohlad died of natural causes on January 5,2009, at the age of 93.

Carl Pohlad's funeral was held at the Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis.