In the annals of 20th century Twin Cities business, the most familiar names are those like Carl Pohlad, Harvey Mackay, Wheelock Whitney, and the Cargill-MacMillan family. By comparison, Paul Christen’s is less well known.

But Christen, who passed away in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on July 27 at the age of 96, should be listed with those names, even though he spent a large part of his career in a neighboring state. In many ways, that career benefited both Minnesota and South Dakota.

Christen was in fact born in Minneapolis, and he lived there till he was 12, when he moved with his family to Mitchell, South Dakota. There his parents would own and operate a commercial bakery. After graduating from Dakota Wesleyan University, he opened a branch of his parents’ bakery in Huron, South Dakota. In 1962, at the age of 33, Christen ventured into commercial real estate along with business partner and fellow Huron resident Paul Hohm. Together they became one of South Dakota’s largest property owners, with a range of holdings that included bowling alleys and Postal Service facilities. (During this time, Christen sold the family bakery business to Minnesota supermarket operator and supplier Supervalu.)

It was while Christen was building his real estate business that he met Minneapolis banker Carl Pohlad, from whom he requested a loan to purchase additional property. For reasons that aren’t clear, Pohlad turned down the loan request. “But my dad took an immediate liking to Paul,” Bob Pohlad says. “Personally, that’s what makes their story fascinating to me.” Carl Pohlad asked Christen to handle several loan workouts with community banks in South Dakota that Pohlad was doing business with. That became the start of a four-decade connection between the two men.

They worked together in a variety of ways. Christen would become president of MEI Corp., a Pohlad-founded company that became the third-largest Pepsi-Cola bottler in the nation and a Fortune 500 company till its sale to PepsiCo in 1986. Christen also held a minority stake in the Minnesota Twins while Pohlad was the team’s majority owner. During this period, Christen worked in Minneapolis during the week, returning to Huron on weekends.

The men weren’t exactly business partners—at MEI, Christen essentially worked for Pohlad. But Christen was more than an employee. “When something difficult or sensitive needed to be done, my dad asked Paul to do it,” Bob Pohlad says. Why was that? “My dad was a dealmaker, and Paul was the operator,” he adds. In other words, the senior Pohlad tended to focus on the big picture, while Christen handled more day-to-day issues.

The connection between the two men wasn’t all business. “They were inseparable as friends, too,” says Becky Pohlad, Bob’s wife and one of Christen’s daughters. “They got together at the country club with their wives, they played gin rummy together. There was a friendship beyond the business relationship. And that translated into becoming in-laws when Bob and I got married.”

Though the two men would remain good friends, Christen decided to live in Huron full-time in the early 2000s. Along with his wife, Donna, he acquired 18 banks in western South Dakota, which the Christens operated under First Western Bank brand before selling them to Montana-based First Interstate BancSystem in 2008. Christen continued to operate the Christen Group, a nationwide commercial property ownership company, till his death. (Donna Christen passed away in 2016.)

Looking back on her father’s life, Becky Pohlad emphasizes his extensive philanthropic endeavors. For instance, Paul Christen “did a lot with the Boys and Girls Club of Minneapolis,” of which Carl Pohlad was a founder, and he and his wife were included in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “America’s Most Generous Donors” list in 2011.

“There were so many things he did that crossed over between South Dakota and Minneapolis,” Becky Pohlad adds. It’s a legacy that continues in both of those states.