Trish Bremer stood in a sun-drenched room, a big window behind her and a cluster of cozy furniture nearby. Soon, people ...

Bremer started as bookkeeper at a St. Paul bank in 1887, shortly after emigrating from Germany. By the early 1920s, he was a bank chairman and part owner of St. Paul’s Schmidt Brewery.

for $1.4 billion. Bremer, a privately-held St. Paul-based farm lender that serves Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, was established more than 80 years ago by German immigrant, banker and ...