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Timothy Edward KORNDER

Male 1959 - 2009  (49 years)


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  • Name Timothy Edward KORNDER 
    Birth 27 Jun 1959  Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 17 Jan 2009 
    Notes 
    • Kornder, Timothy Edward Age 49 of Belle Plaine, passed away on January 17, 2009. There will be a memorial visitation from 4-8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at the Kolden Funeral Home in Belle Plaine. A private family service will be held. Tim was born in Bloomington, Minnesota on June 27, 1959 to Eugene and Elizabeth (Kuduk) Kornder. On November 14, 1981 he married Lori Kahle at Trinity Lutheran Church in Belle Plaine. Tim enjoyed growing heirloom vegetables and hybridizing peonies. His passion for discovering new peppers and tomatoes took him to Costa Rica and Oaxaca, Mexico. He enjoyed traveling all around the United States with his family. Tim also enjoyed exploring languages, especially his latest adventures with the Spanish language. He was preceded in death by his father, Eugene in January of 2003. Tim is survived by his loving daughters, Alison (Dustin) Burstein of Lakeville, Andrea (special friend, Alex) Kornder of Denver, CO, Ashli (special friend, Erik) Kornder of Belle Plaine; their mother, Lori (special friend, Jamie Scott) Kornder; Mother, Elizabeth; Sister, Nancy (Cmdr. USN Richard Adams Ret.) Adams; brothers, nieces, nephews, friends, colleagues & his loyal companion C.C. In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred.

      An article in the Star Tribune:

      From the time he was old enough to till the soil, Timothy Kornder seemed to have a green thumb. He started his own greenhouse when he was in eighth grade and cultivated a passion for plants, most notably heirloom vegetables, specialty melons, peonies and exotic peppers that he grew and sold at Brewery Creek Farm in Belle Plaine.

      The future of Brewery Creek is uncertain. Kornder, 49, who was the farm's only grower, was found dead Saturday inside a greenhouse, said Lori Kornder, his wife. The cause of death has not yet been released. Kornder opened Brewery Creek nearly 30 years ago with a couple of small greenhouses specializing in bedding plants and grew the business into one that gained a national reputation for selling high-quality plants and vegetables that were often not available anywhere else. He was particularly proud of the 450 varieties of peppers and 300 varieties of tomatoes, some that came from Mexico, Brazil and Israel. More recently, he got into hybridizing peonies to see what colors he could come up with.

      "He was adamant that he always had something new to bring to the market," Lori said.

      Customers came from far and wide to shop and get gardening advice. "Plant early, plant often" he'd tell his customers, Lori said. "He loved passing on his expertise and educating people with their gardening skills."

      He was a frequent vendor at the Minneapolis and St. Paul farmers markets and often shared his gardening knowledge through appearances on local radio and television shows and lecturing at garden clubs, conferences and local colleges. For the past 27 years, he supplied the plants for the hanging baskets at Valleyfair.

      "Whenever we wanted to do something different, he'd go out of his way to get it for us," said Scott McKenzie, landscape supervisor for the Shakopee amusement park. "The plants were high quality. He will be sorely missed."

      Kornder won several FFA awards as a student at Belle Plaine High School. He earned a degree in horticulture from the University of Minnesota-Waseca in 1979 and started the thriving garden shop just off Hwy. 169. As passionate as he was about growing plants, he also tended to his employees. He had a handful of Hispanic workers and in recent years began to learn Spanish. He even took trips to his employees' homelands to meet their families "and delve into their backgrounds, interests and know where they came from," Lori said.

      He also liked to travel, especially in winter, to places such as Oaxaca, Mexico, and Costa Rica to find more varieties of peppers and melons to bring back to Minnesota. His newest venture called for establishing a vineyard featuring Minnesota grapes, Lori said.

      Kornder is survived by his daughters, Alison Burstein of Lakeville, Andrea Kornder of Denver, Colo., and Ashli Kornder of Belle Plaine, and their mother Lori Kornder; sister, Nancy Adams, of Middletown, R.I.; mother, Elizabeth Kornder of Belle Plaine, and nieces, nephews, friends and colleagues.
    Person ID I19622  Don Carlson's Tree
    Last Modified 29 Jul 2012 

    Father Eugene George KORNDER,   b. 18 Sep 1921, Bloomington, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Jan 2003, Scott County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth Hedwig KUDUK,   b. 1 May 1926, Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 Jan 2012, Scott County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 85 years) 
    Marriage 9 Oct 1948  Hennepin County, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F14215  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family L.L. KAHLE 
    Family ID F14228  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 29 Jul 2012