Longtime Minn. legislator Searle dead at 93

Longtime Minnesota state representative and one-time speaker of the House Rod Searle has died at his Alton Township home near Waseca. He was 93.

A Republican, he represented Freeborn, Steele and Waseca counties in the House of Representatives from 1957 to 1980.

Lawmakers chose Searle as speaker after the November 1978 election. He was a compromise candidate acceptable to Democrats and Republicans at a time when the body was evenly divided between the parties.

He was viewed as a consensus-seeker who skillfully guided the Minnesota House through a politically challenging session in 1979.

"The Legislature didn't have the sharp edges that it does today and even at that time his edges were less sharp than others," said Jim Ulland, a Republican who served with Searle in the Legislature.

Searle didn't earn his bachelor's degree until well into his adulthood, a circumstance that shaped his leadership style, Ulland said. "I think he really felt that he had to support his opinions with argument and he had to be a learner."

Searle's sense of humor brought people together and helped him get the speaker's job, he added.

His time in that leadership post was short, however. Democrats were able to unseat a Republican member late in 1979 with a campaign ethics complaint and took over control of the House. Searle did not seek re-election after the 1980 session.

Searle was born in New Jersey, the son of a newspaper editor and a nurse, according to a biography posted on the Minnesota Historical Society website. He and his wife moved to Minnesota in 1947 to farm.

After his retirement from politics, Searle served as president of the Minnesota State University Board and chairman of the Minnesota College Merger Board.

A funeral home obituary did not list any cause of death but his family said Searle died peacefully.

MPR News reporter Lorna Benson contributed to this story