"Bro Mike"  -  Michael G. Lowther, President and Chief Manager
Home: Lake City, Minnesota, Born 3/14/50

Mike is our big-picture man. He continually looks for available properties, then arranges deals on those that meet our criteria. He sees a project’s whole scope and focuses on the goal, not difficulties along the way. He is a fearless risk-taker, yet is warm and outgoing, bringing people together and encouraging them to participate for everyone’s benefit.

Mike went to work directly out of high school building silos. He advanced to crew chief over the course of seven summers (1968-74), but in the winter of 1972 opened a real estate office. That became his full-time occupation from 1974-80, during which time he opened 11 agencies and employed 37 people in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Mike discovered quickly he was a super-salesman and earned his first million dollars before he turned 30. He invested in a subdivision then and used his talent for tools and building to construct seven homes. Soaring interest rates caught him short, however, and he lost his entire fortune.

He started over. Attracted to computers, Mike became a salesman for Computerland, then went into partnership and purchased a MicroAge franchise. That venture became Great River Systems, opening in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in 1984, expanding to Minneapolis in 1988, and recording annual sales consistently in the millions of dollars. After selling the La Crosse office in 1994, the company merged with ProLogic of Tucson in 1995, went public in 1996, was purchased by Osage Systems in 1998, then by Pomeroy Computer Resources in 2000. Mike served as branch manager for Pomeroy until retiring in 2002. His sales during these years were record-setting; he was considered among the nation’s top 1% in computer sales.

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"Bro Joe"  -  Joseph M. Lowther, Vice President
Home: Winona, Minnesota, Born: 3/19/55

Joe fixes things. He arranges for repair of anything that doesn’t work and manages upgrade and renovation projects on our properties. His long experience with repairing heavy equipment has given him understanding of how nearly anything works mechanically. He is practical, assertive, and gets the job done.

Joe graduated from Winona Technical College in 1975, completing a two-year course in auto mechanics. He was the only one in his class who would work on and successfully repair the school’s busses, which were cast-offs from the Army. The instructor thus recommended him to Rich’s Truck Service, the local International dealership, where Joe was hired before his first school year ended. He worked night shift through his second year, then continued on at Rich’s for the next 15 years, becoming foreman of second shift. As an ASE-certified Master Truck Technician, he repaired diesel trucks and all kinds of heavy equipment. Joe moved to the Winona County Highway Department in 1990 where he repaired the county’s road equipment, fixing “anything from chainsaws to bulldozers.” He became supervisor there in 1998. Joe is inventive in his solutions to problems and persistent in seeing them through till resolved.

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"Bro Denny"  -  Dennis E. Lowther – 12/20/52 - 8/10/2000
Sharon M. Lowther, Vice President
Home: Fargo, North Dakota, Born: 7/29/54

Sadly, Dennis died in August 2000. His wife, Sharon, is carrying on in his place. Sharon is an active community volunteer, serving as a member of the PTA board and as a volunteer for many other organizations.

Denny left high school, found manual labor not to be his destiny, so went off to two years of computer school. Sharon graduated from high school in Crookston, Minnesota, and also decided computer school was a good choice. After both graduated from Moorhead Technical Institute, Dennis was employed by NCR Corporation and Sharon worked for the Fargo Foundry. Dennis and Sharon were married in 1975. In 1977, they formed Lowther Corporation, designing, writing, and supporting custom software. Together they developed and maintained software systems for many large and small businesses.

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"Bro Mic"  -  Myron R. (Mic) Lowther, Treasurer
 Home: Anchorage, Alaska, Born: 8/15/40

Mic pays the bills, collects the rents, and manages LowtherBrothers accounting. He took over this task when Denny died and has converted it to an entirely online system. Mic is our detail man. He sits in the back room gathering piles of data, methodically sorting and organizing it, finding the significant threads that run through it.

Mic obtained a BA in mathematics and became a computer systems analyst in the early 60s. He worked in New York, Arizona, and Alaska over the course of a 33-year computer career, for companies involved in publishing, manufacturing, truck and trailer rental, airline transportation, and the Alaska pipeline. His $85-a-week starting salary increased 25-fold by the time he retired at the end of 1995.

Mic wrote Walking North, a book about his family’s 1973 hike of the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  He has also written a six-book series of children’s adventure stories: Manford of MorningGlory Mountain. After collecting enough rejection letters to wallpaper the bathroom, Walking North was published in 2001, and two Manford books were published in 2006.  Go to www.manford.com for more information.

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"Bro Pat"  -  Patrick A. Lowther, Secretary
Home: Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Born: 10/20/51

Pat is our attorney. He prepares all documents for LowtherBrothers transactions, weeding through contract details to clarify situations for all parties concerned. Pat draws from a reserve of intelligence, people skills, and discipline to guide a project along with calm, yet single-minded devotion. His years of courtroom experience bring real-world perspective to contingencies that must be considered.

An attorney since 1980, Pat is experienced in business planning, litigaion, real estate development, environmental regulation, land-use planning, local government, and media relations.  He has been trained as a Civil Trial Specialist (MSBA) since 1992, and was named Super Lawyer by Law & Politics in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2003.  Pat has been involved in numerous complex 1031 exchanges, business purchases and sales, powerline relocation, road construction contracts, design-build agreements, and much more.  He graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in 1980 and Winona State University in 1976 with a BA in political science. 

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