Bentz, Thompson, Rietow (BTR) records

Frederick Jacob Bentz was born in McGregor, Iowa on November 26, 1922. He attended the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, New York. Following his service in the U.S. Army during World War II, Bentz received a bacelor's degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota. Beginning in 1948, he was employed in the office of Long and Thorshov in Minneapolis, and became an associate and chief draftsman in the successor firm, Thorshov and Cerny. In 1971 he formed the successful partnership, Bentz Thompson Rietow, in Minneapolis.

Milo Thompson was born in Minneapolis on May 28, 1935. He received a bachelor's degree in liberal arts (1957) and a bachelor's degree in architecture (1962) at the University of Minnesota. He attended Harvard University and was awarded a master's degree in architecture in 1963. Two years later, Thompson received the Rome Prize, which made it possible for him to study at the American Academy of Rome. He returned to Minneapolis and was employed as a draftsman in the office of Thorshov and Cerny. He then worked for Carl Koch in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before joining Brown Daltas Associates in Rome. Thompson came back to Minneapolis to become vice president and chief of design for Cerny & Associates. He then Joined in partnership with his fellow employees Frederick Bentz and Robert Rietow, in 1971.

Robert Rietow was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on May 14, 1937. He received his bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1959 and then worked in the office of Thorshov and Cerny from 1960 to 1964. He was with Miller, Whitehead, Dunwiddie, Inc. from 1964-1967, before joining Cerny & Associates as an associate and project architect in 1967. In 1971, he joined Frederick Bentz and Milo Thompson in the founding of Bentz Thompson Rietow. Rietow died February 18, 2014.

The above is all excerpted from Minnesota Architects: a biographical dictionaryby Alan K. Lathrop, 2010.