Robert Leiseth

R. V. Leiseth died Thursday, June 30, 2016 in Detroit Lakes, MN. Robert was born at home in One Road Township, Roberts County, South Dakota on April 29, 1928 to Norwegian immigrants Soren Henry Leiseth and Brita Jordahl Leiseth. His dad came from Vallersund, Norway in 1911 and his mother from Sogn, Norway in 1914. Both of them came to Ellis Island and moved to Moorhead where they met at classes to learn the English language at Concordia. Later his parents settled at the farm where he was born in the area called the Peever Hills near Sisseton, SD.

Bob attended a one room country school for eight years before graduating from Sisseton High School in 1946. Because there were no school buses, Bob left home at age fourteen and boarded in private homes until he finished high school. He enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1946 and was stationed at Fort Carson and Alaska. He served in the National Guard during the Korean Conflict attaining the rank of Lieutenant. Following his service, Bob purchased a 1952 Plymouth and drove to Seattle, WA where he worked for Boeing. He realized that this was not his lifestyle so he sold his car and took the train back to Fargo. Bob attended NDSU and later transferred to Concordia College graduating with a business degree in 1956. He began his banking career for a short time at the American State Bank in Moorhead. For the next three years, Bob worked for the US Treasury as a bank examiner. Bob married Marilyn Kathleen Johnson on August 4, 1957 in Thief River Falls, MN. They have lived in Moorhead, Detroit Lakes and Lake Park, MN. In the fall of 1959, Leiseth was appointed Executive Vice President at the First National Bank in Detroit Lakes. In 1966, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Banking. In 1967, Bob purchased the Norman County State Bank in Hendrum, MN. A branch office opened in Moorhead in 1986 on Center Avenue and the name was then changed to Viking Bank. In 1998 the Viking Bank moved to Brookdale in south Moorhead.

Leiseth was active in professional organizations of the Minnesota and American Bankers Associations in leadership positions. He served as a Minnesota State Senator representing District #65 and was in conservative political organizations. He has served in leadership positions in each church that he has been a member. Bob was a member and past president of the Detroit Lakes Rotary Club, member of the Moorhead Rotary Club, and is a Paul Harris Foundation Fellow. Leiseth and his family have been active supporters of charitable organizations including Concordia College, Oak Grove Lutheran School, and he helped organize the Norman County West Dollars for Scholars in Hendrum/Halstad, MN.

He is survived by his wife Marilyn, three children and five grandchildren: Bruce Robin and daughters Lauren and Annika Leiseth; Jon Leiseth; and Kristi Darrel and children Grant, Kay and Marc Pederson. Also surviving are sister Gladys Altenbernd and brothers Arvid, David Mary Leiseth, sister-in-law Anita Leiseth and step-brother Arvid Hellum.

Robert was preceded in death by his parents, stepmother Laura Hellum Leiseth, sister Lillian Landmark, brothers Ronald, Milton and Henry Leiseth and step-sister Lorraine Hagen.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to a charity of your choice.