>> Cathy: LONGTIME CAPITOL REPORTER GENE LAHAMMER DIED EARLY MONDAY MORNING AT THE AGE OF 90.

GENE COVERED STATE POLITICS FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FOR 34 YEARS.

HE LATER DID WORK FOR THE "STAR TRIBUNE" EDITORIAL BOARD AND WAS KNOWN FOR HIS ABILITY TO CALL RACES ON ELECTION NIGHTS.

>> Eric: GENE AND I WORKED TOGETHER FOR YEARS IN THE OLD CAPITOL BASEMENT OFFICES.

AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS "GENO" BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY, HE WAS ALSO THE FATHER OF ALMANAC'S POLITICAL REPORTER MARY LAHAMMER.

GENO APPEARED ON OUR PROGRAM MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT HIS DECADES AS A CAPITOL OBSERVER.

HIS MOST RECENT APPEARANCE WAS IN 2021 WHEN HE AND MARY DISCUSSED DIVERSITY IN THE MINNESOTA STATE SENATE.

HERE'S A PART OF THAT >> MOST PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE THAT THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WHO CAME HERE TO THE MINNESOTA SENATE WAS A GUY BY THE NAME OF DR. ROBERT LEWIS, DR. LEWIS WAS A VETERINARIAN GRACED THIS BODY IN 1972.

>> THE FIRST BLACK SENATOR IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA HAILED FROM THE SUBURB OF ST. LOUIS PARK.

>> 1960 CENSUS SAID 1/3 IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AT ROMAN CATHOLICS, 1/3 IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS PROTESTANTS AND 1/3 IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS JEWISH.

>> MY FATHER LONGTIME POLITICAL REPORTER GENE LAHAMMER KNOWS A LOT ABOUT PARK SINCE HE IT'S WHERE HE CHOSE TO RAISE HIS FAMILY AT THAT TIME.

>> HEAVILY WHITE AT THAT TIME, JUST MAYBE A DOZEN BLACK FAMILIES IN ST. LOUIS PARK WHEN BOB LEWIS WAS ELECTED TO SCHOOL BOARD WHICH IS ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS THE LAHAMMERS MOVED TO ST. LOUIS PARK.

>> DO YOU THINK THAT RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY HELPED ST. LOUIS PARK DO BETTER THAN OTHER SUBURBS WHEN IT CAME TO RACIAL DIVERSITY?

>> UNQUESTIONABLY, WITH THE JEWISH INFLUX THAT BROUGHT A RICH DIVERSITY TO THE COMMUNITY THAT TAUGHT US TO EVALUATE PEOPLE AS PEOPLE, NOT BY ANY RELIGION OR THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN.

>> DR. ROBERT LEWIS WHO HAD A VETERINARY CLINIC ON HIS PROPERTY NEAR THE ROLLER GARDENS UP THE STREET LATER SAID IN A NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT THAT A NEIGHBOR CIRCULATED A PETITION AGAINST HIM BUT ONLY ONE PERSON SIGNED IT.

>> YOU HAD KIND OF A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE WHEN THE FIRST FAMILY OF COLOR MOVED ONTO OUR STREET, CAN YOU TELL THAT STORY?

>> OH, DR. ELLIS.

A NEIGHBOR LADY CAME UP TO ME AND TOLD E THAT WAS THE CASE AND SHE SAID, WELL, WE CERTAINLY DON'T WANT ANY MORE OF THEM MOVING IN HERE.

AND I LOOKED AT HER IN KIND OF ASTONISHMENT AND I REMEMBER TELLING HER SN'T IT WONDERFUL THAT DOCTOR HAS MOVED INTO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

AND THAT WAS THE LAST I HEARD FROM HER.

>> LEWIS QUICKLY ROSE TO PROMINENCE IN HIS PRACTICE AND IN POLITICS.

>> HE WAS ALSO THE FIRST BLACK MEMBER ELECTED TO ST. LOUIS PARK SCHOOL BOARD, I WAS AWARE OF, WAS WELL THOUGHT OF IN THE COMMUNITY, OBVIOUSLY, BECAUSE HE GOT ELECTED TO TATE SENATE FROM ST. LOUIS PARK