Gerald Willet

{{Short description|American politician, businessman, and heavy equipment operator}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{infobox officeholder

|name=Gerald Leroy Willet

|birth_date = {{birth date|1934|10|31}}

|death_date = {{death date and age|2017|09|10|1934|10|31}}

|party=Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party

|state_senate1=Minnesota

|district1=4th

|prior_term1=65th (1971-1972)

|term_start1={{start date|1971|01|05}}

|term_end1={{end date|1987|11|14}}

|predecessor1=Robert V. Leiseth

|successor1=Bob Decker

}}

Gerald (Jerry) Leroy Willet (October 31, 1934 – September 10, 2017) was an American politician, businessman, and heavy equipment operator.

Willet was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He grew up on a farm in rural Laporte, Minnesota and graduated from Laporte High School in 1952. After high school, he traveled to the United States working as a heavy equipment operator until 1964. He then moved his family back to Minnesota where he owned and operated a furniture store in Park Rapids, Minnesota. He served on the Civil Air Patrol. Willet served in the Minnesota Senate from 1971 to 1988 and was a Democrat. He was then appointed by the Governor, Rudy Perpich, as the Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Willet died at the Frazee Care Center in Frazee, Minnesota.[http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail?ID=10716 Minnesota Legislators Past and Present-Gerald Willet][http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/obituaries/4326138-gerald-l-jerry-willet Gerald L. "Jerry" Willet-obituary]