Jonathan Wagner

St. Louis Park, Minn.

Jonathan Wagner died quietly on November 3, 2025, after an extended fight with Alzheimer’s disease. He was surrounded by his loved ones. He was 85 years old.

Jonathan was born in Cleveland and grew up in Aurora, Ohio. As a young man, he was influenced profoundly by his mother Hilda’s love of learning and his father Freddy’s legendary work ethic. Growing up in a Victorian house in rural Ohio, amidst extended family and a rich sense of history, he kindled a lifelong appreciation for the past and deep love of birding, hunting, and flyfishing. He also cherished his formative years at Western Reserve Academy, in nearby Hudson, Ohio where he was a senior prefect in the dormitories and a captain of the baseball team. At WRA, Jonathan found a budding intellectual curiosity and formed many lasting friendships. He loved his time at “Reserve.”

In his collegiate years, Dr. Wagner matriculated to Bowdoin College in Maine, where he majored in History and was honored as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. After Bowdoin, he went on to earn his MA in History at the University of Pennsylvania, and both his PhD and later his JD at the University of Wisconsin.

A prolific author, Dr. Wagner’s research interest ranged widely, including multiple books on Modern European History, German Immigration History, and several articles and monographs on the immigration, labor, and environmental history of Manitoba, North Dakota, and the northern plains of both the U.S. and Canada. He capped his scholarly career by writing a centennial history of Minot State University, a tribute to a school that had done so much for him. His last work was a memoir, recounting time spent with his beloved Labrador retrievers. Dr. Wagner often said that one could “measure their life in dogs.”

Jonathan also measured his life in his impact in the classroom. Known as a kind and thoughtful professor, he taught at the University of Winnipeg from 1968-1980, raising a young family there, and enjoying friendships with hunting and fishing companions. From 1980-1983, Jonathan returned to the United States to earn a law degree in Madison, Wisconsin and briefly practiced law there before returning to the classroom. In 1984, he found his way to Minot State University, where he would spend the next 26 years of a remarkable teaching career, retiring in 2010. “Doc Wagner” loved his years at Minot State. He was honored as a Professor Emeritus in 2013.

In his retirement, Jonathan split time between Mercer, North Dakota and Florence, Wisconsin, where he could balance his passion for ice fishing and hunting on the prairies of North Dakota and flyfishing the beautiful small streams in the woods of northern Wisconsin. He particularly loved to share his appreciation for both places with his children, his grandchildren and his faithful Labrador retrievers.

Jonathan is preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Hilda, and his siblings Tim and Polly. He is survived by his children, Nathaniel, Johanna, Sarah, and Robert, and by his grandchildren Samantha, Thomas, and Clarissa.

His ashes will be scattered in the grasslands at Lake Audubon National Wildlife Refuge and the woods of Florence, Wisconsin.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorial gifts to Minot State University – Wagner Scholarship Fund. Donations may be made online at: minotstateu.edu/give/ or by mail to: Minot State University Foundation, 500 University Ave W, Minot, ND 58707.

Published by The MInot Daily News, November 6, 2025.