Robert Edmund Menze (1918-2010)

MENZE

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 11/15/2010 at 08:01:49

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Friday, November 12, 2010.

Robert Edmund Menze, 92, died Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, in Beaverton, Ore., after a short illness. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 23, at the West Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 8470 SW Oleson Road in Portland, Ore.

Robert Edmund Menze was born Oct. 21, 1918, in Topeka, Kan., and was raised in Kansas City, Mo., and Ames, Iowa, where his father, Louis Menze, was on the athletic staff of Iowa State College. He played basketball at Ames High School and then at Iowa State from 1936 to 1940 under his father’s coaching.

Armed with an economics degree, he began a career in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, interrupted by three years in the Army. In 1952, he left the government and took a job in the private grain export business with Kerr Gifford in New York City, moving to Portland, Ore., when Kerr Gifford was acquired by Cargill Inc. The remainder of his career was spent in Portland with Cargill, whose Pacific Northwest business was with Pacific-Rim countries, primarily Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines. The final four years of his Cargill career, 1979 to 1983, were as manager of Cargill’s Tokyo office. From 1984 to 1993, he and another retired Portland grain trader, Jan Mauritz, operated a small consulting operation called Asia Services Inc.

Always active and athletic, he played tennis until his 90th year and followed sporting events, both live and on television, with considerable interest. He was also a lifelong, excellent bridge player and a lover of opera and classical music.

He was predeceased in 2002 by his wife, Maurine, and is survived by their four children, Karla, Mark, Janet and Barbara; and granddaughter, Karen.

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