The late Todd Bachman was honored with a Special Service Award by the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association during the Northern Green Expo, held at the Minneapolis Convention Center Jan. 6-8. 

Bachman had been the CEO of Bachman’s Inc., a distinguished Minnesota firm in the floral, garden center, nursery and landscape industry. Bachman died tragically in the summer of 2008 while attending teh Olympic Games in China.

MNLA’s Special Service Award honors MNLA members or industry friends who have, over a long period of time, given of themselves personally and/or professionally to make the nursery and landscape business a better industry. Bachman's daughter, Susan Bachman West, accepted the award on behalf of the family.

Bachman was a graduate of the University of Minnesota. Over the course of his career, he held leadership positions with the Society of American Florists, the American Floral Endowment, the North Central Florists Association, the Widmer Research & Education Fund, the Minnesota Commercial Flower Growers Association, and the MNLA Foundation. He and his wife Barbara created the Todd and Barbara Bachman Endowed Chair in Horticultural Marketing at the University of Minnesota, the first position of its kind in the country.

According to outgoing MNLA President Van Cooley, “Todd exemplified the term servant leadership. For those of us who knew him well and worked with him in business or on these nonprofit boards, we have felt Todd’s loss deeply.  His quiet leadership produced a steady stream of results and progress for the organizations for which he volunteered.”