Obituary: Mitchell Rontti

Mitchell Rontti passed away Feb. 5, 2022. Mitch was born in Duluth to Joyce Carlson. He grew up in Cloquet and graduated from Cloquet High School in 1977. He graduated from Dunwoody college in 1979, followed by his first job where he worked in Hibbing for two years before relocating to the Twin Cities area, where he worked 30-plus years for the Custom Conveyor Corporation. Mitch and Deb (Cabak) were married Aug. 19, 1986. Mitch resided in Elk River for most of his adult life before moving to Rogers in 2015. He was a tough but proud coach to his boys, Drew and Matt, in their years of youth football and baseball. He then became a baseball umpire and football referee after Drew and Matt moved into high school sports. Mitch loved to travel with Deb to many places throughout the country and to visit his military son, Drew, wherever he was stationed, including when Drew and his family were most recently in Germany. Mitch was the proudest military dad. Mitch was also incredibly proud of Matt, who followed in his footsteps through his high school football career and passion for engineering and, after graduating from the University of Minnesota, has gone on to work numerous jobs in the mechanical engineering field. Mitch’s happy place was his cabin in Wright, on Lake Tamarack. He loved to hunt, fish, boat, snowmobile and go four-wheeling. His favorite part was probably the sauna, and seeing whether he could get it to higher temps and follow up with a dip in the lake no matter the temperature.

Mitch is survived by Deb, his loving wife of 35 years; his sons, Drew (Kacie) and Matt (Anna) Rontti; his mother, Joyce Carlson; brother, Chad Carlson; father-in-law, James (Erma) Cabak; his four grandchildren, James, Joel, Owen and Arlo; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles.

He is preceded in death by his father, Richard Carlson.

A celebration of life will be had both publicly and privately at various times.