Bachmans Home & Garden CEO fatally stabbed at Olympic Games in Beijing

UPDATE from Dale Bachman’s Mon., Aug. 11, press conference (Dale is the president of Bachman’s floral, home and garden centers):  I’m here today to provide an update from our company and from our extended family. I would like to start with what may be an unusual thank you. I would like to thank the news media here, across the country and around the world for its tireless effort to tell stories that honor Todd and Barbara, our family and our company. You have honored our privacy, and you have respected our company’s wishes. We look forward to sharing your wonderful stories and tributes with Barbara and the girls when they return to Minnesota. I would also like to thank our incredible employee family here at Bachman’s. We know that you are hurt and grieving. Each of you is doing exactly as Todd and Barbara would wish. You are coming together to support each other. You are sharing your wonderful memories and stories of Todd. And you are continuing to serve our customers. Todd would be so pleased and so am I. We have grief counselors working with our employees here at the Lyndale store today and will be making counseling services available to all employees throughout the week. The schedule will be provided to our employees through the company’s internal communications channels later this afternoon. We have created memorials to Todd at our garden centers, and we are so touched by the floral tributes, cards and well wishes we are receiving from around the world. We are working diligently to post the hundreds and hundreds of guest book messages to our Web site. We have heard from customers down the block and from people from every corner of the world.We have received questions from the news media about our company’s succession plan. Bachman’s has been a family owned and operated business for five generations. We have successfully managed leadership transitions many times. When the time is right, we will share our plans with you. At the moment, we continue to be focused on mourning Todd, Barbara’s recovery and serving our customers.The news we received overnight and early today from the immediate family in Beijing is positive. Barbara’s condition has been upgraded from critical to serious but stable. When I talked with Barbara’s daughter Susan yesterday, she said that the next two to three days will be very important. Please continue to keep Barbara and the girls in your prayers.Barbara’s daughter Elisabeth and her husband Hugh released a letter through the United States Olympic Committee overnight. That letter is posted at our Web site.Hugh also conducted a media conference Monday evening Beijing time. We have some video from the conference posted at our Web site. I can tell you that Hugh confirmed that it is too soon to discuss funeral plans or say when Barbara might be moved out of China.That’s the information we have to share with you at this time. We will keep the news media, our employees and the community updated at our Web site: www.bachmans.com. And we invite you to continue sharing your memories and well wishes at our guest book.  –Dale Bachman, President, Bachman’s
———————————–

From Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008:

Todd Bachman, CEO of Minneapolis-based Bachman’s floral, home and garden centers, was fatally stabbed shortly after the opening ceremonies in Beijing Saturday. His wife Barbara was also seriously injured but has made it through surgery and is in intensive care. Dale Bachman, president of the company issued the following statement at 4pm today:

I’m speaking to you on behalf of our company – but our company is our family.The other family members of the executive leadership team are myself, Paul Bachman and Lee Bachman. We have worked together at Bachman’s our entire lives. Lee Bachman and I are brothers and second cousins to Todd. Paul Bachman is Todd’s first cousin.As you can imagine, the Bachman family and our entire company family are shocked about the tragic and senseless attack that claimed the life of Todd Bachman, who was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Bachman’s. Todd has served in that role since 1994.Todd’s wife Barbara Bachman was seriously injured in the attack. We spoke with one of Todd and Barbara’s children today, and I can tell you that Barb has made it through surgery and is currently in intensive care in a Bejing hospital. The next 24 hours are critical, and we appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.Todd and Barbara’s daughter Elizabeth was with her parents at the time of the attack and was not injured. Todd and Barbara’s daughters Sara and Susan are on their way to China to be with their mother and sister.Bachman’s is in the business of helping families express their sentiments at times of joy… and at times of sorrow. And we are simply overwhelmed with gratitude at the outpouring of sympathy and well wishes from all over the world.The USOC and the United States Government have been and continue to be extremely helpful. The calls and emails we’re receiving are from people’s hearts… and they speak so well of this extraordinary man. Despite these events, our company will continue operations as our family turns its attention to mourning Todd and supporting Barbara in her recovery. –Dale Bachman, President, Bachman’s

The statement was issued on a special Web site the family has set up to keep the media, employees and the community updated, at www.visionsweb.com/ToddBachman/index.asp. 

Bachman and his wife Barbara are the parents of 2004 U.S. Olympic volleyball team member Elisabeth Bachman, and are the in-laws of U.S. men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. Mr. Bachman died from knife wounds from an attack by a Chinese man during a visit to the Drum Tower. Barbara Bachman and the Bachmans’ Chinese tour guide were also seriously injured in the attack.  Afterwards, the assailant leapt to his death from a balcony on the Tower. The Associated Press reported there was no indication the assailant knew that his victims had any connection to the games. "For all intents, it appears to be a random attack by a deranged man," an American member of the International Olympic Committee, Jim Easton, told The Associated Press. "The only thing we’ve heard is they were not identifiable except for a small volleyball pin which would probably be invisible to a guy." Interpol said it appeared to be a random, senseless act of violence and that the assailant had recently divorced and had not been seen by relatives for two months. U.S. Ambassador Clark T. Randt visited the victims in hospital, and the embassy issued a statement later that said the attack "appears to be a senseless act of violence." 

Bachman’s was founded in 1885 and remains family owned. The store operates 29 retail stores in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, and employs 1,600 people during its peak spring/summer season. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bachman family, friends and employees, and the Minneapolis community. To read more about Bachman’s and its enduring reputation as a Minneapolis/St. Paul institution, please see the retail profile in the Winter, 2006, issue of our Garden Decor quarterly at: www.casualliving.com/article/CA6400278.html.