Myron “Mike” Kunin was a serial businessman. This obituary in the Minneapolis Star Tribune quotes a friend on Kunin, “He never met a business he didn’t like.”
Kunin’s rise started by turning his parents’ handful of hair salons and barbershops into Regis Corp. In more than five decades of activity he dabbled in real estate, manufacturing, retail and broadcasting.
In addition to half-a-dozen TV stations, his Red Rock Radio has over two dozen radio stations scattered through the Northern Midwest, including KKIN(AM/FM), KFGI(FM), KLKS(FM) and WWWI(AM/FM) in the Brainerd Lakes, Minn. area; KQDS(AM/FM), KZIO(FM), WWAX(FM), Duluth, Minn.; WEVE(FM), Eleveth, Minn.; and WCMP(AM/FM), WHSM(AM/FM), WXCX(FM), WLMX(FM) in Southern Minnesota/Northwestern Wisconsin.
Kunin was also a supporter of the arts in the Twin Cities area, with donations to the Walker Arts Center and Minneapolis Institute of the Arts being just the tip of the iceberg.
He passed away on Wednesday. Sunday, Nov. 3, there will be memorial reception at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, starting at 5 p.m.