July 31, 2025
Longtime business owner Paul Christen, whose career spanned from baking to banking to baseball ownership, has died at the age of 96.
Christen was a long-time resident of Huron and a graduate of Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell who followed his parents into the baking industry before shifting into banking.
In addition to his work in South Dakota, he was active in the Twin Cities business community after developing a close relationship with Carl Pohlad, banker, financier and owner of the Minnesota Twins from 1984 until Pohlad’s death in 2009.
The two developed a variety of endeavors, including their largest enterprise, MEI Corp., a Fortune 500 publicly traded company. They also developed other business interests spanning insurance, airlines, hotels, bottling and banking. Christen was a partner in the Minnesota Twins from 1984 until 2003.
Earlier in his career, he expanded into commercial real estate with his lifetime business partner and mentor, the late Dr. Paul Hohm, who also was from Huron. Over six decades, the partners would become the largest property owners in the state with holdings that ranged from bowling alleys to post office facilities. Christen ultimately sold the family bakery business to SuperValu.
“Though his business life was very demanding, Paul always made family a priority,” Christen’s family said in a statement. “A typical week would find Paul flying back and forth to Huron to participate in his daughters’ various academic and athletic endeavors.”
After Christen left MEI and returned to Huron, he thought briefly about retiring, the family said.
But when the opportunity arose to acquire 18 banks in western South Dakota, operating them under the name of First Western Bank, he and his wife, Donna, “Muffy,” took it.
“The bank was known for being a community-oriented, friendly place, and Paul and Donna led the charge to ensure that its customer service was extraordinary,” the family said. “During their tenure, the organization grew rapidly.”
Christen served as president, CEO and director of First Western Bancorp Inc. until January 2008, when the Christens sold their banking interests to First Interstate BancSystem Inc., a bank holding company located in Billings, Montana, which also came into Sioux Falls with its acquisition of Great Western Bancorp. In late 2010, the Christens also sold their insurance agencies in western South Dakota.
More recently, Christen built the Christen Group LLC, a collection of commercial properties across the U.S.
His statewide civic involvement was broad, including serving on the South Dakota Banking Commission, as director of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and Sanford Underground Research Facility Foundation and as a director and chairman of the South Dakota Investment Council.
The Christens were included in “The Philanthropy 50: America’s Most Generous Donors of 2011” in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Together with Hohm, his wife, Carol, and Jeannette Lusk, they contributed $1 million to found and establish the Christen Hohm Lusk Greater Huron Area Foundation in 1988. This foundation was established to respond to the financial needs of the greater Huron area. The Christens also founded and established other foundations in the communities of Sturgis, Wall, Custer, Hot Springs and Belle Fourche.
A recent major gift created the Paul R. Christen High Adventure Base at the Summit in West Virginia — an experiential learning base that Scouts will enjoy for years to come.
“We want to leave something for future generations,” Christen once said. “We give to people we’ll never see — people we’ll never know.”
Memorials are preferred to the South Dakota Community Foundation and Dakota Wesleyan University. Services are planned for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 14 at Faith Alive Community Church, 2660 Dakota Ave. S., Huron, with a luncheon to follow.