Gerry Rauenhorst, founder of Minneapolis-based The Opus Group, passed away April 24.
Rauenhorst had the entrepreneurial spirit, forming his own real estate business in 1953. The breezeway of his home served as the company’s headquarters.
From these small beginnings, The Opus Group has grown into a family of commercial real estate development, construction and design companies headquartered in Minneapolis with eight additional locations. The Opus Group boasts hundreds of employees and millions of square feet of completed real estate projects across the country.
Rauenhorst was a pioneer of the design-build method. Companies that he founded developed corporate headquarters for Best Buy Corporation, ConAgra and Gavilon. His companies also developed the Nic on Fifth in downtown Minneapolis and more than 50 buildings on university campuses across the nation.
Rauenhorst was known, too, for his philanthropy. He founded a group of family philanthropies that include GHR Foundation, the Better Way Foundation, Enkel Foundation, Opus Foundation and Opus Prize Foundation. These grantmaking organizations invest in closing the achievement gap through Catholic education, providing early childhood education and investing in community revitalization.
Finding time to give back to his community, Rauenhorst was a founding member of the Minnesota Keystone Program and the Papal Foundation and a leader of the Minneapolis Suburban Serra Club, Serra International and the Knights of Columbus. He was also an advisor to Sogang Jesuit College in Seoul, South Korea.
Rauenhorst also opened the doors of the world to his family through trips across the American South in the family station wagon and to see the great artistic masterpieces of Europe. He enjoyed creating pottery, exploring new gadgets and spending time at the lake with his grandchildren.
Rauenhorst is preceded in death by his beloved wife Henrietta Schmoll Rauenhorst; parents Henry Theodore Rauenhorst and Margaret Keltgen Rauenhorst; his seven siblings William, Muriel, George, Jerome, Henry, James, Robert, and his infant son Gerald Anthony Rauenhorst Jr. He is survived by his seven children, Judith (Lee) Doerr, Mark (Karen) Rauenhorst, Neil (Becky) Rauenhorst, Joseph Rauenhorst, Michael (Margaret) Rauenhorst, Susan (Jeff) Turner, Amy (Philip) Goldman, 21 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Services will be held at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, Minn., on May 6.
