Herman Ladin of Minnetonka, who led Mohawk Transfer and Storage and was a partner in Mohawk Business Record Storage, died of cancer Aug. 2 in St. Louis Park. He was 88.
Ladin and his partners prospered by seeing opportunities in an increasingly competitive business.
After graduating from North High School in Minneapolis in the late 1930s, Ladin earned a degree at the Dunwoody College of Technology. Then he joined his father in his carpentry business.
During World War II, he became a sergeant in the Army Air Forces, supporting a fighter squadron. He served in places that included Egypt and Corsica.
After the war, he married and went to work for his father-in-law, who owned Mohawk.
By 1957, Ladin was running the firm, then located where the Metrodome now sits. In the 1970s, the firm moved to Bloomington.
In 1975, he noticed that more and more businesses were storing boxes of documents at Mohawk, said his son and partner, Rick, of Tonka Bay.
He told his son, "'Look at this. And we are making money at it,'" reported his son.
Considering whether the company could store documents in a more organized way, Ladin, a personable salesman who knew a lot of moving and storage people around the United States, began casting around to see if others were doing such record storage. He found one business on the East Coast.
He and his partners checked it out and saw potential in the idea. By 1976, they launched the new business.
"He was smart and had vision," his son said. "He had a very open mind in business."
By 1979, the moving and storage business was sold, and by 1996, the records storage business was hitting $10 million a year in sales.
The firm also stored computer data.
Among the other partners were Ladin's brother Sidney of Minnetonka, and Michael Rabin of Minnetonka.
"He saw the handwriting on the wall and wanted to do something different," Rabin said. "And he was just a down-to-earth guy" who easily made friends.
In 1996, the partners sold the records storage business to the Iron Mountain Co. and went into the property management business.
Son Rick recalled that his father gave free service or heavy discounts to civic groups and those that couldn't pay for moving and storage.
For many years, his warehouse was a collection and transfer point for Thanksgiving Day turkeys for the needy.
He was active in the B'nai B'rith, a Jewish organization, and also a member of the Zurah Shrine in Minneapolis, where he served in its Legion of Honor.
In business, "he never over-bid," said son Rick. "He had a heart of gold."
His wife of 58 years, Jean, died in 2003.
In addition to his son and brother, he is survived by his daughter, Terry of Eden Prairie; sister, Sandy Berezovsky of Plymouth; four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Services have been held.
