MPR News with Angela Davis

Remembering Minnesotans we've lost to COVID-19

Acoffin of a person who died of COVID-19.
An employee of the Chaudoir funeral house adjusts a Christian cross on a coffin of a person who died of COVID-19 at the company's morgue in Namur on Monday, April 20, 2020, before the funeral ceremony while relatives will not attend the burial for sanitary reasons.
John Thys | AFP via Getty Images

Through conversations with their family members, colleagues and close friends, MPR News is remembering the lives of the people we’ve lost, too soon, to COVID-19. If you’d like to share the story of someone you’ve lost to COVID-19, please email us at tell@mpr.org.


More than 800 Minnesotans have died from COVID-19. 

This pandemic has changed the way we grieve and mourn. We can’t hug our family and friends, and services have been postponed or streamed on video. 

On this special broadcast, MPR News wants to acknowledge Minnesotans who have died from COVID-19.

You’ll hear from their family members, and two grief experts will weigh in with advice on how to cope. 

Conrad Razidlo, 85, died of COVID-19 on April 13, 2020.
Conrad Razidlo
Courtesy of the Razidlo family

Conrad Razidlo, 85. MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with Mark Razidlo. He is the son of Conrad Razidlo, a prominent local ad man and artist who died on April 13. He was 85.

Conrad Razidlo had a long and successful career in advertising. He was an early partner at Carmichael Lynch and then ran his own agency for more than 20 years. He also dabbled in politics, helping create former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson’s ad campaign for Minneapolis City Council and then for governor.

Craig Breimhorst, a Lutheran pastor from Faribault.
Craig Breimhorst
Courtesy of Dane Breimhorst

Craig Breimhorst, 71. MPR News reporter Dan Kraker tells the story of Pastor Craig Breimhorst, who died on April 16.

Craig Breimhorst was the kind of guy who would walk into a room, and within 10 minutes was friends with everyone — which came in handy when he started his own church in Faribault over 30 years ago. He was Rice County’s first victim of the coronavirus.

His son, Dane Breimhorst, said his dad was “the most compassionate man on the planet.”

Mohamed Omer died of COVID-19 on April 29.
Mohamed Omer
Courtesy of Haweya Farah

Mohamed Omer, 74. MPR News reporter John Enger spoke with Haweya Farah, the daughter of Mohamed Omer, who died on April 29.

Civil war scattered Mohamed Omer’s family more than 30 years ago. He spent his life trying to unscatter them. Just a few years after finally arriving in Minnesota, he died of COVID-19.

“I just sat next to him and talked,” Farah said. “I read him the Quran. I didn’t want him to feel alone.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the program.

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