Cyril Kerber of Chanhassen, top-selling encyclopedia salesman, dies at 87

Cyril Kerber was an electronics teacher in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He might have pursued that career if he hadn't had a brood of kids to feed when he finished his tour of duty.

So he went into sales and instead became Minnesota's top Encyclopaedia Britannica sales representative, selling 6,051 sets of the reference work over 33 years. He believed that to be a world record.

Kerber, 87, died of natural causes Sept. 17 at his home in Chanhassen.

"He read the whole set from A to Z," said his son Conrad, of Eden Prairie. "What else was there to do on the road?"

Kerber was born on one of his family's 13 dairy farms stretching over a 3-mile section of Chanhassen. The Lunds & Byerlys store in Chanhassen displays a selection of early pictures of the city, "and it's pretty much a Kerber montage," his son said.

Kerber graduated from Chaska High School, where he played baseball. He would later play third base for the Chanhassen Redbirds town ball team, and was thrilled when the Redbirds won the state championship in 2018 and 2019, Conrad Kerber said.

"He still [had] the same glove he starting using 70 years ago," Conrad said.

Kerber attended the University of Minnesota, but as a teenager had already started to study electronics. He saw an ad in a magazine for courses on fixing and installing tubes for radios and TV. His grandfather offered to pay for the courses, and Kerber completed more than 60 of them.

He sold Encyclopaedia Britannica door-to-door, driving a diesel-fueled Mercedes-Benz because the fuel was cheaper. Many of the customers he called upon had entered their names in a drawing at the State Fair for a free set of books, and a good chunk of his clientele were doctors, Conrad said.

Initially based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Kerber eventually moved back to Minnesota to sell the books, partnering with his brother-in-law Harold Schroeder. Kerber had all of Minnesota while Schroeder's territory was in northwestern North Dakota; each was among the longest-tenured salespeople in the company's history, Conrad Kerber said.

Conrad Kerber believes his father may well have set the record for most sets sold, because he kept a diary with every customer's name and address. But as the internet developed, Kerber knew that fewer people would be willing to pay $1,500 for a set of books with information they could get for free. He retired in 1985; Encyclopaedia Britannica decided to drop its print edition in 2012.

Kerber was always looking for ways to entertain his eight children, Conrad said. One favorite solution was Knothole Days, back when the Twins played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington; for the price of one adult admission, an unlimited number of kids could get in free. He also took the family on camping trips around the United States.

After his retirement, Kerber helped out at Conrad's investment advisory firm in Eden Prairie. He was quick with a joke and a good schmoozer, said his son.

Kerber and his wife, Madonna, were active at St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Excelsior, and they volunteered for a variety of charities. They both still enjoyed biking at the time of his death.

Besides his wife and his son Conrad, Kerber is survived by sons Cyril Jr. of Chanhassen; Terry of Excelsior; Brian of Orono; and Rodney of Edina; daughters Monica Campbell of Minnetonka, Michelle Rishavy of Excelsior, and Rachel Wakefield of Sun Valley, Idaho; a brother, William of Minneapolis; and sisters Alice Leuthner of Victoria, and Betty Foley of Roseville. Services have been held.

David Chanen • 612-673-4465