Skip to main content Pat Gustaf, owner of Gustaf’s Greenery in Sioux Falls, at his shop in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Photo: Jeremy Fugleberg / Sioux Falls Business Journal) A longtime member of the Sioux Falls business community died this week. Pat Gustaf, who owned and operated Gustaf’s Greenery in Sioux Falls from 1986 until 2018, died Monday at age 67. Gustaf decided to close the Minnesota Avenue flower shop last year after battling renal cell carcinoma for two years. “No regrets. Truly no regrets at all,” he told the Argus Leader in December . “I think we’ve made our mark on the world.” Gustaf grew up on the north end of Sioux Falls and attended O’Gorman High School, according to his obituary . Early on, his love for flowers and plants was already flourishing: He began working at Earl May Garden Center in Sioux Falls while still in high school. After starting his own business at the Western Mall in the early 1970s, Gustaf and his sister Jean opened Gustaf’s Greenery in 1986. “He was probably the most social person I ever met,” Jean Gustaf said of her brother. The Gustaf siblings used their respective skills in running their store. Pat, ever the social butterfly, handled the marketing and public-facing duties, while Jean, who worked as a nurse at the Veterans Administration, kept things going behind the scenes. “He’d say yes to everything. I’d say, ‘No, we can’t do that,'” Jean said, laughing. Gustaf’s daughter, Karlee Bathke, echoed her aunt’s sentiments. “He would make friends wherever we went because he wanted to know everyone’s story,” she said. “He wouldn’t just make small talk; he truly connected with each and every person he met.” Pat always valued spending time in his community, Jean said. In addition to running his […]
‘No regrets’: Longtime Sioux Falls florist leaves legacy of success
