Paul Alan Brenner

     Paul Alan Brenner, 71, of Spencer, passed away in his home on April 1, 2024.   He was born on October 8, 1952, in Sioux City, Iowa, to Florine and Maurice Brenner of Mapleton, Iowa. 

     Paul grew up on his parent’s farm outside Mapleton.  He started picking and selling sweet corn at a young age and helped the business (Brenner Sweet Corn) expand to include month-long sales at Lake Okoboji.   He joined his older brother, Dave, in helping build the large facility for his parent’s business, Florine’s Antiques, on Highway 71 in Arnolds Park in 1972.  

     Paul was a proud alumnus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, earning Bachelor of Arts Degrees in English, Humanities, and Spanish in 1974.  While in college, he worked summers in his parents’ antique business.  He founded Paul Brenner Antiques/Appraisals in 1981 in Spencer at the home known as “The Mansion,” the 1884 Adams-Higgins House.   Paul became a nationally respected expert in Arts & Crafts furniture, pottery and design and exhibited at fine Antique Shows and Sales around the US from Portland to Chicago to Miami Beach.  

     Paul’s loves were golf, travel, and serving others.  In 1967 at the age of 15, Paul earned a Guinness World Record for the most rounds of golf in a twenty-four hour period.  From there, he played rounds of golf around the world, including New South Wales, Austrailia in 1980; Scotland with older brothers Lou and Dave; in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2005; outside Beijing, China in 2008; and his round in Marrakesh, Morocco in 2011 completed Paul’s quest to play golf on each continent (except Antarctica).  

     Paul’s love for travel started while in college as St. John’s.  Paul visited Egypt, Australia and explored most of Europe during this time and then served as a tour guide for his parents during their trip to Europe in 1980.  In 2008, Paul took the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Beijing, China to Moscow, Russia, spending time in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with a tribe of nomads along the way.  While in Coober Pedy, Australia, he spent time opal mining, and in Morocco, he lived with nomad Berbers in Ketama.  

     Above all, Paul loved to help others, especially in his adopted hometown of Spencer. As his nieces and nephews fondly recall their Uncle Paul reading his favorite book, The Giving Tree, to them, Paul was a living example of the giving tree.  The list of organizations that received volunteer help from Paul is legendary, but he was most proud of serving as a member of the Spencer Daybreakers Kiwanis Club for over forty years.  In thanks for his service to so many organizations and people, Paul was named the Spencer Citizen of the Year in 2010, an honor in which he was especially proud.

     Paul is survived by his daughter Monica Lea Brenner (Butcher), grandson Austin Thompson, siblings Robert (Lisa) Brenner, David (Denise) Brenner, Nancy (Joseph) Brenner Sinnott, and sister-in-law, Lois Nagy Brenner.  Paul was a favorite uncle and Godfather to a host of nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews, and cousins around the world. Deceased family members include his parents, Florine and Maurice Brenner, and siblings Maureen (Walter) Brenner Williams, Louis Brenner, and Carol Brenner Dobson.      Paul left the world a better place because he was in it, and we will forever remember his zest for living by his favorite saying, “ Every day was better than the day before.”