Ray Ostrom, the co-founder of Normark, passed away this week at the age of 85, according to an obituary published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
The cause of death was not immediately known. Ostrom had lived for years on a houseboat docked at Cyclone Island on Lake of the Woods. His wife of 65 years, Norma, died last month.
The son of Swedish immigrants, Ostrom served in World War II as a member of the Coast Guard and was an avid hunter and fisherman. In 1948, he opened Ostrom’s Marine and Sporting Goods in Minneapolis and later began hosting muskie tournaments at Lake of the Woods as a way to promote his store.
In 1959, Ostrom teamed with Ron Weber to become the first distributors of Rapala lures in the U.S., a business that later became Normark Corporation.
“He was a tireless promoter,” Ron Lindner, a longtime friend of Ostrom’s, told BassFan.
In 1970, when Lindner and his brother, Al, were launching their first fishing-themed television program called “Al Lindner’s Facts of Fishing,” the first Rapala TV commercial aired during the show.
“He gave us our first sponsorship,” Lindner added.
The popularity of Rapala lures in the U.S. exploded in 1962 when an article entitled, "A Lure the Fish Can't Pass Up" was published in an issue of Life magazine that featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover shortly after her death. Requests for the lures poured in and Weber and Ostrom helped finance expansion of manufacturing.
To read the full obituary, click here.
