Frank B Martin March 21, 1937 – December 28, 2018 Share this obituary Local Florists Sign Guestbook| Send Sympathy Card Frank Burke Martin, PhD of St. Paul, MN, Madeline Island, WI and Vero Beach, FL died peacefully in his sleep on Friday, December 28th after a yearlong battle with stage IV metastatic renal cell cancer. Nancy, his wife of fifty-seven years, was by his side. Frank, an identical twin, was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 21, 1937, arriving two minutes after his brother, John.
He grew up in the Cleveland area and graduated from Saint Ignatius High School, where, by his own account, he received “the finest education”. He went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree from St. Mary’s College of Winona, MN and taught at the college for two years before moving on to pursue his Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics at Iowa State University. Frank began his career as a professor of Applied Statistics at the University of Minnesota (St Paul Campus) in 1968 and spent the next 37 years teaching and mentoring graduate students.
He enjoyed consulting as an expert witness in Forensic Statistics, and he was honored for his work with the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Frank loved teaching, but his interests and passions were far reaching. He was a lifelong hunter, fisherman and yachtsman, and he played competitive squash, even after he was badly injured in the explosion that tore through the Commodore Hotel and Squash Club on February 15, 1978.
He took up golf in his late forties and became a student of the game. He loved music, travel, trees, good food, fine wine, and, in his later years, watching sports on television. But one of his greatest loves was Madeline Island, where his extended family gathered for summer vacations.
He served as Commodore of the Madeline Island Yacht Club from 1986-1988 and was a Founding Member of the Madeline Island Golf Club, serving as President from 2002-2004. Family meant everything to Frank. Nancy was his greatest love and his children and grandsons were his greatest joy.
He treasured his time hunting with his son, Chris, in Starbuck, MN, visiting with his daughter, Marielena, and her family in Denver and Lake Forest, and with his daughter, Mariela, in Ireland. He enjoyed fishing the Florida coast with his son-in-law, Joseph, and grandson, Sebastian, building Legos with his grandson, Francis, or driving cross-country with Nancy, searching for the next great restaurant. Frank, Frank B, Dad, “Whompa,” “Pampop,” is remembered with love by his wife, Nancy Jean (Feltl), his son, Christopher Francis (Mary Orme), his daughter, Marielena (Joseph Radecki), his daughter, Mariela, his grandsons, Sebastian Francis Joseph Radecki and Francis William Martin, his twin brother, John (Mary Jo), his sisters, Jessie and Louise (Bjarne Rasmussen), many nieces and nephews and friends.
He is preceded in death by his father, Daniel, his mother, Julia (Oviatt), and his sister, Sara Hoffman. A Memorial Mass will be held at 10 am (9am visitation) on Saturday, January 19, 2019 at the Church of the Assumption, 51 West 7th Street, St. Paul. Memorial donations may be made in Frank’s name to the Scholarship Program at Saint Ignatius High School, 1911 W 30th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113.
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