Elmer Lee Andersen (June 17, 1909 – November 15, 2004) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who built a successful business career with the H. B. Fuller Company.

A self-described progressive Republican, he was a well-regarded politician who passed many social and environmental regulations during his time as governor.

His mother, Jennie Olivia Johnson (1877–1925), was the daughter of a seaman from Luleå, Sweden, who came to America as a young man and worked in the timber business.

"My earliest memory", Andersen wrote in his memoirs, "is of riding with him on the streetcar and being permitted to clang the bell as we came to street crossings.

[4] Andersen's brothers worked for E. H. Sheldon and Company in Muskegon, a manufacturer of specialty school furniture.

From there he moved on to selling newspapers, vegetables, specialty products, candy bars and soft drinks.

[6] Andersen graduated from high school in 1926 and became a member of the first class of the newly established Muskegon Junior College.

He heard through an associate that the H. B. Fuller Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, a manufacturer of school paste, was looking for someone to hire in sales promotion.

Andersen discussed the position with the owner and president, Harvey B. Fuller Jr., and joined the company on October 8, 1934.

Under his leadership, the firm became an early model of corporate responsibility, recognized for offering generous benefits to employees, their spouses, and retirees.

They maintained their prices at a high level, even when their share of the market dropped, in order to make more money.

Andersen retired as president and chief executive officer in 1974, at age 65, turning the company over to his eldest son, Tony.

[13] In 1953, 12 years after becoming president of the H. B. Fuller Company, Andersen entered the dairy business, buying a farm held by his wife's family on Deer Lake, near St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

In 1984, Deer Lake Farm received the National Holstein Association's Progressive Breeder Award.

Among the many causes he championed were educational programs for exceptional children, recognition of alcoholism as a health problem, the Metropolitan Planning Commission in the Twin Cities, and the Fair Employment Practices Act (Minnesota was the fifth state to pass legislation on this issue).

[18] After the anti-discrimination bill passed, Andersen was greeted by an African-American, who told him that for the first time he felt like a "real man".

In 1999, he said he decided to run after hearing Freeman wish he could again call the Minnesota National Guard to bust a strike at an Albert Lea meatpacking plant, after a federal judge blocked that decision.

After recounts and court challenges, it was determined that then-Lieutenant Governor Karl Rolvaag had defeated Andersen by 91 votes out of nearly 1.3 million cast, 619,842 to 619,751.

Andersen believed that right-to-work laws would weaken Minnesota's labor movement and cause friction between workers and management.

In a 2003 interview with the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, he said, "I remind people I want to be known as a liberal Republican.

In the 2004 presidential election, he endorsed Democratic nominee John Kerry over incumbent Republican President George W.

[20] He was so disenchanted with the Bush administration that he wrote a commentary in the Minneapolis Star Tribune claiming that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "spew outright untruths with evangelistic fervor" and calling Cheney an evil man who was the administration's real decision-maker.

The building housing the archives and special collections of the university's libraries is named for him, in recognition of his deep belief in that mission.

[27] One of Andersen's proudest achievements came in April 1975, when Congress passed legislation establishing Voyageurs National Park—thousands of acres of forests and lakes along Minnesota's northern border.

Along with people like naturalist Sigurd Olson, legislator Willard Munger, and aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, Andersen devoted thousands of hours to persuading landowners, timber industry leaders, politicians, and citizens of the park's value to future generations.

And when he discovered something new, like the Whittington Press, he made sure that the University of Minnesota owned the printer's entire archive.

Compilation of the volume commenced while Andersen lived, and he expressed hope to attend its publication party.

"[33] Andersen met Eleanor Anne Johnson (1911–2011) at Grace University Lutheran Church while they were both students.

Eleanor's sister Edith Johnson later married future Minnesota Senator Stanley W. Holmquist.

[35][36][37] Andersen wrote a number of books, including his autobiography, A Man's Reach; a collection of newspaper articles, Views from the Publisher's Desk; a collection of speeches and reflections, I Trust to Be Believed; and Elmer's Tour, a guide to the Minnesota state capitol building.