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Wallace Rasmussen

Wallace Rasmussen was an American businessman and prominent philanthropist. Hired at Beatrice Foods Company in 1934 as an ice hauler, Rasmussen rose to the top and served as president and then chairman and chief executive officer of Beatrice from 1976 until his retirement in 1980. Most impressively, Rasmussen rose to the top of the nation’s largest food processing company and multi-billion-dollar business with just a high school diploma.

Early Life

Wallace Rasmussen was born in Nebraska on July 11, 1914. The son of a Danish immigrant, he was born to Lars Berg Rasmussen (1869-1953) and Millie Wallick (1888-1983) and raised on a dairy farm.

Career

By the time Rasmussen graduated from high school at the age of 16, the Great Depression had ravaged the Rasmussen farm, leaving the family destitute. Working menial jobs, from delivering handbills door to door and cutting jigsaw puzzles to hiring himself out as a ranch hand, Rasmussen vowed “that if he ever landed work with a big company, he’d never let go of it.”

In 1934, Rasmussen landed a job as an ice hauler for Beatrice Foods Co., in Lincoln, Nebraska and true to his word, he never let it go. Due to his mechanical ability and remarkable resilience, Rasmussen then rose through the ranks, landing positions from chief engineer and plant manager to various district and regional supervisory posts.

Possessed of a keen intellect and dogged determination, Rasmussen says he studied on his own, mastering each new job: “‘I only had a high school education, so I had to educate myself,’ he said. ‘Every time I got into something I might not know enough about, I’d go out and buy every book I could find on the subject.’”

By the 1960s, Rasmussen had landed at company headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, serving in several vice presidential positions. In1976, he became president and CEO. And in 1977, he was named chairman and CEO of Beatrice, which, by this time, and under Rasmussen’s leadership, had become America’s largest food processing company and a multi-billion-dollar business. During Rasmussen’s tenure at Beatrice, he added many high-profile acquisitions to its portfolio, most notably Tropicana Products, Inc.  After 47 years with Beatrice, Rasmussen retired in 1980.

In 1986, the once formidable Beatrice Foods Co., was sold and subsequently dismantled.

Post-Retirement

After his retirement from Beatrice, Rasmussen settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where he sat on several corporate boards, including the board of Dollar General Corp. Cal Turner Jr., the former CEO of Dollar General, once said about Rasmussen: “If you’re trying to go into battle and do the right thing, he’s the guy you want by your side.”

Philanthropy

Although he achieved success with only a high school diploma, Rasmussen was a fearless proponent of higher education. After his retirement from Beatrice Foods Co., Rasmussen devoted his philanthropic efforts to providing educational opportunities to hundreds of deserving students.

Besides five annual scholarships that he sponsored at Belmont University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, he established the Rasmussen Foreign Student Exchange Program (now the Rasmussen Studies Abroad Scholarship) at Belmont University in 1994. In 1996, he funded and established another studies abroad program, the Wallace N. Rasmussen Scholarship at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

In 1978, Rasmussen’s lifetime achievements were recognized when he was awarded a 1978 Horatio Alger Award, an honor bestowed upon outstanding Americans who, similar to characters in stories by Horatio Alger, Jr., traditionally have started life in “humble circumstances” yet, “in spite of this early adversity, or many would say because of it, they have worked with great diligence to achieve success and the fulfillment of their dreams.”

Personal Life and Death

On December 17, 1936, Rasmussen married Grace Irene Moreland (1913 – 1993). Together, Wallace and Grace had two children: Walter Rasmussen and Ada Rasmussen Almering. Wallace Rasmussen died after a long illness at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 21, 2008.