MAPLE GROVE, Minn. — The pest control industry mourns the loss of Adam’s Pest Control co-founder Harold Leyse, who died on Sunday. He was 78.
Born June 29, 1937, in Maynard, Minn., Leyse grew up in Granite Falls, Minn., where he was a three-sport athlete (football, basketball and baseball). He attended Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army.
After a two-year stint at a General Electric warehouse, Leyse was introduced to the pest control by a former college roommate, who worked for Lystad’s, a well-known regional pest control firm that was eventually sold to Ecolab. From 1963 to 1970, Leyse worked for Lystad’s. On Jan. 1, 1971, Leyse, along with fellow Lystad employee Don Hanson, launched Adam’s Pest Control.
Adam’s Pest Control, based in Medina, Minn., has become one of the pest control industry’s true success stories, having grown every year for the past 45 years. The company is now run by Harold’s son, Todd Leyse, who joined the firm in 1996 and is now president, and daughter Andrea (Leyse) Guy, administrative division manager.
Todd Leyse credits his dad’s strong work ethic, something he and sister Andrea emulate, for the company’s success. “My mom said that she knew the business was not going to fail because if my dad had to get through a brick wall, he’d go through it by hand, brick by brick, if that’s what it took. That’s the sign of a classic entrepreneur,” he told PCT.
Harold Leyse also had a knack for connecting with people – coworkers, customers and industry colleagues alike – using humor. (PCT dubbed Leyse “Minnesota’s Crown Prince of Comedy” in his 1993 PCT Leadership profile). After delivering a few one-liners during a Minnesota Pest Re-Certification Conference, an associate approached him during a break and recommended that he contact illustrator Cliff Johnson to put his humor down on paper in the form of cartoons. The two partnered to create a series of paperback cartoon books called Pest Jests, and in 2011 these cartoons were compiled into one-expansive book The Best of Pest Jests.
Following a stroke 10 years ago, Leyse had been taking the blood-thinning medication warfarin which, as pest management professionals know, was once used as a rodenticide. Last week, he had a tooth pulled so he discontinued taking warfarin in order for his blood to clot after the tooth extraction. Said Todd Leyse, “Unfortunately his warfarin levels did not build back up in time for the stroke. I share this story of this known risk because Harold had a great sense of humor and it would not be lost on him that a rodenticide did him in.”
Todd Leyse, while acknowledging his father’s legendary sense of humor, also noted his dad’s love of family and the industry. “He loved that this industry helped him achieve what to him was the American Dream — to make things better for his kids than he had it. Harold really overachieved, in that he worked to make the industry that helped him achieve his American Dream a better industry too.”
Harold Leyse is survived by Todd Leyse, Andrea (Leyse) Guy and six grandchildren. Arrangements and memorial information have not yet been announced, but a Caring Bridge web page, has been set up in his name and it will include that information once it becomes available.