SJU holds funeral for alumnus, senator

The life of Dave Durenberger came full circle on Tuesday, as the 1955 SJU graduate was laid to rest in the St. John’s cemetery, just up the road from Flynntown where he grew up.

Durenberger, known nationally as the longest-serving Republican Minnesota state senator in the U.S. Senate, passed away at his home in St. Paul on Jan. 31 at the age of 88. Family and friends reflected on his devotion to community, friends, family and faith at his funeral in the St. John’s Abbey on Feb. 7.

“One of the things I noticed about Dad was his ability to engage just about anyone in conversation,” said Dave Durenberger, one of Durenberger’s four sons. “He would talk to them like they were the only one in the room, and what they told him mattered. Everyone provided him with the same opportunity to develop a relationship, to become a friend.”

This was reflected in the several hundred people at his funeral, including Gov. Tim Walz and First Lady Gwen Walz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Minnesota governors Mark Dayton and Tim Pawlenty, former Senator Mark Kennedy and former Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey.

“It is only Dave that could bring this group together,” Klobuchar said. “It is appropriate today that we are celebrating Dave’s life at St. John’s, because in so many ways, Dave was St. John’s. Through the bluster of Washington, he found ways to bring those Benedictine values and a tradition of a belief in public service to the rest of the country, and in sticking to those values of stewardship he made incredible progress.”

During his run on the Senate from 1978-1995, Durenberger advocated for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeast Minnesota and co-sponsored the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, among numerous other propositions. He promoted government as an instrument of good and aimed to build lasting relationships with others.

“There can be no doubt that Dad’s entire life was devoted to community service,” said Charlie Durenberger, another one of Durenberger’s sons. “He firmly believed that government had an important role to play in advancing the common good and improving the lives of all our citizens.”

After his time in office, Durenberger returned to Minnesota and married Susan Foote, whom he is survived by. He continued to build relationships with prominent political figures on both sides of the political spectrum. Durenberger left the Republican party in 2005 after becoming critical of the party’s lack of fiscal support for government programs. He endorsed Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, respectively, and co-authored a book with political reporter Lori Sturdevant titled “When Republicans Were Progressive” in 2018.

Outside of the political sphere, he remained engaged with St. John’s throughout his life. As a final gift to the CSB+SJU community, the Durenberger family decided that all memorials for Durenberger will go into an endowment to support students who participate in the summer internship program in Washington, D.C., according to McCarthy Center Director and political science professor Matt Lindstrom.

Durenberger was the son of Johnnie Athletic Director George Durenberger, who served in the role from 1931-1972 after graduating from SJU in 1928. Durenberger grew up living in Flynntown on SJU’s campus. He went to St. John’s Prep School from 1947-1951 before attending St. John’s from 1951-1955, where he was a member of ROTC. He attributed his attitude toward government work to his time at SJU at an event in August of last year.

“In this grand democracy, government is not a nuisance, not an evil force,” Durenberger said. “People elect public servants. I learned from my family, from my education at St. John’s and in all the years since then, the shared value of civic engagement.”

Two of his sons attended the prep school, and his grandson Dave Durenberger is a current senior at SJU.

“He loved St. John’s,” Dave, his grandson, said. “There are so many good memories that he’s made up here. It’s hard to picture St. John’s without him.”

His grandson said Durenberger played a big part in his decision to attend SJU, and that Durenberger loved hearing about his experiences at SJU when he called each week. Durenberger was a consistent supporter of the McCarthy Center on campus from its inception in 2006. He was the guest for the McCarthy Residency in 2009 and gave the McCarthy Lecture in 2014.

“People talked about Durenberger today at the funeral in ways that showed how much he cared about other people’s lives, whoever they were,” Lindstrom said. “That’s a lesson I really take away [from him].”

His death leaves a hole both in Minnesota’s political landscape and the CSB+SJU community that Johnnies, Bennies and all Minnesotans will be hard-pressed to fill.

“In a chaotic world where life can be pretty tough, a good friend is hard to find,” Walz said. “And when you find one, you know it’s special. Minnesota lost that friend.”