North Star Port

DULUTHPORT.COM | 11 Donald Bernard Solwold PHOTO / Ma Silverness, Stephanie Judd Irwin Donald Bernard Solwold, 92, a former officer in the United States Air Force, colonel with the 148th Fighter Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard, avid bison farmer and Twin Ports waterfront entrepreneur, died May 26, 2025. Solwold was born Feb. 10, 1933, in Hawley, Minnesota, along the Buffalo River—a fitting birthplace for a future bison rancher. He and his wife, Marlene, started their family in Great Falls, Mon- tana, where he was stationed at Malstrom Air Force Base before transferring to the Montana Air National Guard. In the early 1970s, the family moved to northeastern Minnesota. There Solwold flew full time for the 148th Fighter Wing while he and Marlene also launched Quarter Master Buffalo Farm in Esko, Minnesota, acquiring their first pair of bison in 1974, which they named Ole and Lena. In 1991, Solwold retired from the Minnesota Air National Guard as colonel to nur- ture their growing herd. The Solwolds were featured in the Fall 1999 i s s u e o f M i n n es o ta's World Port magazine (which preceded North Star Port) for their role in starting a company called Superior Pellet. The busi- ness converted byproducts of local grain elevators, such as grain dust and separated seeds, into pelletized bison feed. It was a joint venture with Con Agra, which in 1996 modified the former King Midas Flour Mill facility on Quebec Pier, in Superior, into a test site for pellet production. In September 2024, at the age of 91, Solwold marked 50 years of raising bison, a mile- stone heralded in local media reports. Solwold was preceded in death by his wife, Marlene, a son and two siblings. He is survived by five daughters, 10 grand- children, a sister and a brother. PORT PASSINGS In September 2024, at the age of 91, Solwold marked 50 years of raising bison. Donald Solwold and his wife, Marlene, started the Quarter Master Buffalo Farm in Esko, Minn. Donald was the founding member of the Minnesota Bison Association, and he worked with Con Agra in the Port of Duluth-Superior to produce pelletized bison feed.

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