Rod Nilsestuen, Wisconsin’s secretary of agriculture and a visionary leader and advocate for the agriculture world, died Wednesday afternoon while swimming in Lake Superior.

He was 62.

According to media reports, Nilsestuen had been vacationing in Michigan’s upper peninsula area, while volunteering with his church’s Habitat for Humanity project. He drowned while swimming at Picnic Rocks park, near Marquette, Mich.

Gov. Jim Doyle appointed Nilsestuen to head the Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection in 2003.

Doyle and others credited Nilsestuen for vastly revitalizing Wisconsin’s dairy industry, for his efforts at preserving farmland for future generations and for making environment and sustainability a priority.

In an interview with The Sun in 2009, Nilsestuen lamented the loss of agricultural lands in the state. He said he held the belief that sustainability and agriculture needed to be intertwined and that the basic discussion “couldn’t be growth versus no growth.”

“We can’t take agriculture as an afterthought,” Nilsestuen said.

State Senator Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls) and other public figures lamented the loss of Nilsestuen in statements last week.

“Rod was a great leader for Wisconsin agriculture,” Harsdorf said in a prepared statement. “Rod was a pleasure to work with on agriculture and rural issues and he served with openness to committee members of both parties. His kind and honest approach will be missed.”

In a prepared statement, Doyle said Nilsestuen was “one of the most important agriculture leaders in Wisconsin history.”

Congressman Dave Obey called Nilsestuen “a terrific public servant and a terrific human being.”

Nilsestuen served as CEO and president of the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives from 1978 until 2002, and was the founding chairman of the National Rural Cooperative Development Task Force, helping to create and strengthen cooperatives throughout the state and nation.

Nilsestuen graduated from the University of Wisconsin — River Falls in 1970 after having served as student body president and a student senator alongside Robert Rasmussen, a longtime friend and now a Polk County Circuit Court judge. He received a law degree from the University of Wisconsin — Madison in 1974. Rasmussen received his law degree a year ahead of Nilsestuen.

“We both had a very similar track in school,” Rasmussen said. “We stayed in touch over the years.”

Rasmussen said Nilsestuen’s death has been “quite a shock” for most who knew him.

“He was extremely intelligent and articulate, and well-organized,” Rasmussen said. “he was always smiling. He always had that twinkle in his eye. That kind of mischievous twinkle, that ‘yeah, I know what you’re saying’ twinkle.”

Nilsestuen married his wife Carol, a St. Croix Falls native, almost 40 years ago. They have three sons.

Memorial services were held July 27 at Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Ave., in Madison, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Nilsestuen family has asked that donations, in lieu of flowers, be sent to the Rod Nilsestuen Memorial Fund, at 329 South St., DeForest WI 53532. Contributions will be directed to Nilsestuen’s favorite charities.