Harold Schafer (February 1, 1912 – December 2, 2001) was a North Dakota businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Gold Seal Company, the original maker of Mr.
Harold next spent a considerable period of time with his mother's family near Rosebud, South Dakota.
In 1924, when Schafer was 12 years old, his father left the family and Harold moved back to Bismarck to live with his mother.
In Glen Ullin he worked on a threshing crew, and by the time he was back in Bismarck and graduating from high school, Schafer did odd jobs at the Dahl clothing store, was an usher at the Capitol Theater, a bellhop at the Patterson Hotel, and an attendant at the Standard Oil Service Station.
Schafer was forced to take a job at a clothing store in Glasgow, Montana, almost immediately after his first wedding but, by January 1, 1936, he was back in Bismarck and working for Vantine's Paint and Glass.
[4] In 1942, Schafer started packaging and selling a product he called Gold Seal Floor Wax.
He personally typed the labels by hand and taped them onto old cans in his basement and, thus, Gold Seal Company was born.
In the spring of 1943, Harold resigned his job at Fargo Glass and Paint to pursue his new dream, only to discover that the few hundred dollars that he had expected to have available for the purpose of starting the company did not materialize.
Each of these became the number one selling product in their respective categories, and the Gold Seal Company continued to produce increasing sales and profits until it was sold to Airwick Industries in 1986.
Schafer was enthralled with Medora and its fascinating history, and continued to pour his money and his efforts into this project.
He was the father of Ed Schafer who was the former United States Secretary of Agriculture and North Dakota governor (1992 to 2000).