Person Page - 1052

Randall "Ran" Bezanson

Born in Minneapolis on August 25, 1913, Randall "Ran" Bezanson played a key role in Eau Claire minor league basebell for over 20 years. In 1941, he was the leader of the Eau Claire Jaycees project that took over operation of the Bears, and he subsequently led the volunteer group that continued to run the Bears/Braves until their final year in 1962. He was a 1935 graduate of UW-Madison, and a local realtor from 1945 until his death in 1983. Ran also served his profession and community in a variety of other volunteer roles, including president of the Eau Claire Police and Fire Commission, and Chairman of the Wisconsin Real Estate Examining Board.

Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted 2008

Peter Bezanson: C.R. businessman Bezanson dies

CEDAR RAPIDS - Peter Bezanson, a central figure in downtown Cedar Rapids developments of the 1960s and '70s before becoming a central figure in the failure of a financial institution in the '80s, died Sunday.

Bezanson, 90, a resident of The Meth-Wick Community in Cedar Rapids, died at St. Luke's Hospital.

Bezanson was "kind of a Type A (personality)," recalled Robert M.L. Johnson, Cedar Rapids mayor from 1962 through '67. "Let's get it done. He had great impatience on the golf course - if the guy ahead of him wasn't moving lickety split, he wanted him to move."

Born in Minneapolis, Bezanson came to Cedar Rapids in 1941 to be an assistant underwriter for the Iowa National Mutual Insurance Co.

"He just loved Cedar Rapids and got involved right away in the community," said Bezanson's daughter, Judy Ruth of Cedar Rapids.

Bezanson started his own insurance agency in 1949. In the early 1950s, he and wife Larrayne put up their home and other personal property as collateral to keep Morris Plan Co., a Cedar Rapids lender started in 1916, from going under. He told a Gazette interviewer he "took over active management" of the firm in early 1954.

Over most of the next three decades, Bezanson built or owned such landmarks as Cedar River Tower, the Roosevelt Hotel, the downtown skyways and the Paramount Theatre.

"He loved all of that sort of thing," Ruth said. "He liked to think of himself as an entrepreneur."

On Oct. 21, 1976, Mayor Don Canney and Bezanson turned the first dirt for a civic center and hotel that's now the U.S. Cellular Center and Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel. Bezanson financed the hotel, then Stouffer's Five Seasons.

Bezanson and his wife, Larrayne, bought the Paramount Theatre, built in 1928, when its original owner encountered financial trouble. The couple transferred the theater building to the city in December 1975 for $2 but retained ownership of the land under it and the adjacent building housing its lobby. The city continues to pay $8,500 a year to lease the underlying land through 2026, when city has rights to buy the property.

In August 1985, MorAmerica Financial Corp., the successor company to Morris Plan, declared bankruptcy, triggering eight years of rancorous court battles. Some 18,000 depositors lost a major share of their investments. In August 1988, federal regulators barred Bezanson from any role in United Security Savings, created during MorAmerica's reorganization.

Ruth said MorAmerica was caught in a declining Midwest economy and unpredictable loan rates. "The interest rates had been really high, and they went down and they were stuck with higher rates of interest on the debt," she said. "It was a real struggle."

Bezanson was active in Westminster Presbyterian Church, the Boy Scouts and local business and commercial groups. He was a board member of Coe College and St. Luke's Hospital.

Larrayne Bezanson died in 1999.

Peter Bezanson "was very alert and with it up until the end," traveling to India last year and celebrating his 90th birthday at the family's northern Wisconsin cabin, his daughter said.²

Larrayne Bezanson, 83, of 1650 Koehler Dr. NW, died Sunday, Oct. 24, 1999, in St. Luke's Hospital after a long illness. Services: 11 a.m. Tuesday, Westminster Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. Herbert Isenberg. Private entombment will take place in Cedar Memorial Mausoleum before the memorial service at the church. Friends may call from 6 to 8 tonight at Cedar Memorial Funeral Home.

The casket will be closed at all times.

Larrayne is survived by her husband, Peter, and two children: Judy Ruth and husband John of Cedar Rapids and Randall Bezanson and wife Elaine of Iowa City; five grandchildren: Jeff Maples of Phoenix, Ariz., Jason Maples and wife Jodi and daughter Lilli of Denver, Colo., Joy Partee and husband Shon and children Kahlil and Star of Cedar Rapids, Peter D. Bezanson and wife Alison of Mesa, Ariz., and Melissa Bezanson of Austin, Texas.

She was born to Eva and Edgar Bing of Eau Claire, Wis., on Aug. 30, 1916, and married Peter Bezanson in Eau Claire on June 17, 1939. They just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June of this year.

Larrayne was active in Cedar Rapids in many ways. She was a board member of Cornell College for 12 years and thereafter served as an emeritus member. She was also on St. Luke's Foundation board and belonged to PEO Chapter JT, Garden Club, Shakespeare Club and served as an elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church. She was a member of the Cedar Rapids Country Club and Cedar Rapids Symphony.⁴

Age 90, passed away in Halifax on January 11, 2021. Audrey was born in Halifax on December 22, 1930. She was the daughter of the late Daniel Burton Angus and Ethelyn (Bezanson) Angus.

She attended Rockingham Public School from 1935-1946, then Queen Elizabeth High School from 1946-47. Her family moved to Pictou and she graduated from Pictou Academy in 1949, where her father was a teacher and later principal. Audrey then attended and graduated from Acadia University in 1952 (BA English). Some of her fondest memories were the fall seasons at Acadia, reuniting with friends and enjoying the beautiful autumn scenery in the Annapolis Valley.

She married James (Jamie) Sutherland in 1954 and so began a life of raising a family and travelling. Jamie was a test pilot with the RCAF and then an executive pilot as a second career, so the travelling never ended for Audrey. She rose to the challenge of being a military spouse, proving over and over that it is not only military members that deserve medals. Moving was a frequent event in our lives and Audrey created a warm, loving home in so many places. Greenwood (twice); London, Ont; California (twice); Ottawa (twice); Salisbury, England; Cold Lake, Alta; Montreal; Nagoya, Japan; Honolulu; Edmonton, and finally home to Nova Scotia in 2008.

Audrey will be remembered by many for her exceptional apple pies, tea biscuits and chicken casserole served with a quick wit and sense of humour. Sunday dinner was always a tablecloth event, ending with a rushed dessert, so we could watch The Wonderful World of Disney at 6 pm.

Audrey is survived by her husband of 66 years, James; brothers, Murray Angus (Joan), Dartmouth; Donald Angus (Linda Redford), Toronto; sons, Robert (Mary), Sherwood Park, Alta; Stephen (Lorena), Edmonton; Derek (LaRae), Mission, B.C; daughters, Anne (Jeremy) Kelland, Brooklyn, Hants Co; Linda (Mike Murray), Edmonton, Alta; and Laura Chan, Lower Sackville; grandchildren C.J., Ryan, Taryn (Mike), Jerrod, Ian (Shelley), Lindsay (Keighl), Gillian (Augustine), James (Ally), Amy, Robin, Nathan, Megan, Rylynn, Bishop, Rene, Erin, Felizya, Emilee, Sierra and Dimias; and adored little great-granddaughters, Clare, Adelin, Nora and Gwen; many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her brother, Richard Angus.

Special thanks to Parkland, Clayton Park, to all the staff and friends in Cameron building and also to the 3rd floor Drummond Hall staff, whose caring and respect were so appreciated for the short time she was there. Cremation has taken place. A celebration of life will take place later in 2021.²