Frank Crane

Paper: Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN)
Deceased: Frank Crane was food-industry innovator
At Land O'Lakes he developed a baby formula for calves that ''benefited everyone in the industry.'' He was 83.
Date: November 11, 2006
Frank Crane spent much of his career at Land O'Lakes searching for ways to add value to the byproducts of cheesemaking. And in 1951 he invented one that changed the dairy industry - a baby formula for calves.


Crane, who died in Arizona Oct. 15 of complications from cancer, will be remembered today at the Zion Church in Lake Crystal, Minn. He was 83.


He introduced the first calf milk replacer and was a pioneer in researching and developing methods to protect against salmonella in feed.


"The calf milk replacer was remarkable in that it replaced whole milk for calves at a lower cost, and that benefited everyone in the industry," said Mike Fowler, retired director of nutritional services for Land O'Lakes Milk Products.


"But Frank did more than invent it," Fowler recalled Friday. "He marketed it and got it sold. He really was a genius, a man of great intelligence, but he had such great people skills, he could win the confidence of customers and fellow employees while gaining the respect of the entire feed industry."


Crane, who served as national chairman of the American Feed Manufacturers Association, rarely boasted of his varied accomplishments. His son-in-law, Howard Fisk, recalled offering to take Crane for a ride in a small airplane. Crane told him he had mixed feelings about flying in light planes and then stunned Fisk by telling him that he had been a Navy bombardier who had flown more than 70 missions during World War II.


"He told me he once came back with a three-foot hole in one of the wings," Fisk said. "Who would have known?


"He would tell people that he grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, went to war, came back and went to the University of Minnesota. Other than that, you'd know nothing of his accomplishments if you talked to him."


Raised in Garden City, Minn., south of Mankato, Crane was a small-town kid who earned a Ph.D. in animal science, was awarded two gold stars with the Navy Air Corps in the Pacific, became a Land O'Lakes vice president and visited more than 70 countries in his quest to lower costs of food production.


"He loved working with Third World countries ... with water buffalo herds," said Carolyn Fisk, his daughter, who lives in St. Paul.


"He was an idea kind of person," she said. "And if he had an idea that would lower food production costs, he was willing to go anywhere in the world to share that."


He retired in 1982, but continued to serve as an agricultural consultant until recently. Three years ago, he helped open a Land O'Lakes milk replacement plant in Black River Falls, Wis.


Crane's first wife, Audrey, died in 1985, and a daughter, Deborah, died in 1984. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Hildegarde, and children Keith Crane, of Annandale, Va., and Sue Fitzgerald, of Minneapolis. Noon visitation and luncheon will precede the 1:30 p.m. memorial service at Zion Lutheran Church.