Obituary of Kenneth Niemi

passed away May 2, 2014 in London, England, doing what he loved best, traveling the world. He was born in Moose Lake, Minnesota on October 28, 1953. He graduated from Robbinsdale High School in 1970 and Macalester College in 1975. He and his wife met while playing clarinet side-by-side in the Macalester band. They would have been married 40 years on May 4, 2014. After graduating from Macalester, he went to work for the State of Minnesota in what was then the Department of Jobs and Training. He worked his way up from his first position as a Clerk and in 1992 he was named the department’s Chief Information Officer. In May, 1998 he left that position to serve as Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. He retired from MNSCU in 2009 and for a year held the position of Vice President of Technology Strategy for the Midwest Higher Education Compact. He continued to consult in his field until his death. Ken’s career was a remarkable achievement, considering he was a humanities major at Macalester and had no formal education in information technology. Ken loved to travel. With his wife, Andrea, he enjoyed two 30 day cruises in the last three years going from Beijing to Bangkok in 2011 and Rome to Rio in 2013. He also loved vacationing in his timeshares across the U.S. and at the family cabin in Barnum, Minnesota. He was a musician at heart and appreciated all different types of music from opera to classic country. He is always remembered for relating almost every situation in life to an episode of the Andy Griffith show. He told stories that were endless and oft repeated, and loved architecture and took his friends on long architectural walking tours of the cities he loved. Ken was preceded in death by his father, John Kenneth Niemi and is survived by his wife, Andrea Niemi, son Nathaniel Niemi, mother Deltah (Biltonen) Niemi, brother Kevin Niemi and wife Karen Grikstas, numerous aunts, uncles and cousins, many friends and colleagues, and his beloved pets Bert and Sid. A gathering to remember Ken will be held at Macalester College, Kagin Commons, on Sunday June 22, 2014 at 2PM. Please come with stories and memories of Ken to share. Memorials in lieu of flowers are preferred to The National Trust for Historic Preservation or VH1 Save the Music Foundation.