Thomas R. Sand, a political strategist, researcher and writer who helped shape Minnesota and federal agricultural and social policies for more than four decades, died March 8 at Elbow Lake, Minn. He was 72.
Sand, born May 9, 1940, had been living in the Sand family home in retirement since 2002. While there, he built a free standing library to house part of his collections of books, music and old films that were crowding his house. The library, or ?bookhouse? as he called it, became a frequent gathering spot for Wendell area and rural Minnesota people who shared Tom?s interests in public affairs, community news, literature and music, and especially, all things rural or humorous.
Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland (1977-1981), for whom Sand worked at USDA and when Bergland represented northwestern Minnesota in Congress, said Sand had little regard for authority even though he worked in government and politics for more than four decades? ?pretty authoritarian work.?
The former secretary, now retired in his hometown of Roseau, Minn., said he would turn Sand loose to explore reasons or interests behind requests brought to Congress or USDA. ?Tom would come back, sometimes from memory off the top of his head, with some notes on napkins, and give you the best briefing you could hope for in Washington,? Bergland recalled.
?He was one person who would also ask the question, ?why?? Tom could appear to be gruff, and some people thought this was insensitivity. But he was a big softy. If people or injustice was involved, he was quick to tear up. There was great compassion in his heart,? said Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson.
Sand worked with Frederickson on policy issues when the latter was a state senator from western Minnesota and during Frederickson?s stints as president of the Minnesota and National Farmers Union farm organizations. They also shared interests in books, music and especially Minnesota authors.
After serving with Bergland in Washington during the 1970s, Sand returned to Minnesota and began working as a speechwriter and researcher for the Minnesota Senate DFL Caucus.
He later worked for USDA?s? Minnesota office of the former Farmers Home Administration and its successor agency, USDA Rural Development.? In the latter positions, he was an especially close adviser to the late Rural Development state director Gary DeCramer, another former Minnesota state senator and educator at both Southwest Minnesota State University and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.?????????
Former Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, who headed the Senate DFL Caucus when Sand was there, said he remembers Sand's interests in books, authors and politics, and the people these interests brought together.? ?My guess is that right now he is with Gary DeCramer and (the late Minnesota author and friend) Bill Holm having a great conversation about what is going on in D.C.,? Moe said.
In typical form, Sand wrote his own self-deprecating obituary to be published this week in the Grant County Herald at Elbow Lake. And in instructions left with his attorney and friends, Sand answered his own question about what he might do differently, if given the chance. ?I would have flossed my teeth.?
Sand insisted he wanted no flowers after his death and that memorials be donations made to the Thorson Memorial Library or the Grant County Humane Society, both in Elbow Lake. Wendell area residents are planning a community memorial gathering for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Wendell Community Center, and Twin Cities area friends are planning a Tax Day Tribute to Tom on April 15, most likely in St. Paul.
Posted in News & Notes
Source: http://www.mn2020hindsight.org/view/remembering-tom-sand-rural-advocate-public-servant
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