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Dean Bredenkamp, 89, died Wednesday, March 25, in Gresham of congestive heart failure. A funeral service was held, Thursday, April 2, at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 795 E. Powell Boulevard in Gresham, Ore. He is survived by his sons, Kerry and King Bredenkamp, of Boring, Ore., daughter, Maridean Eisele of Boring and five grandchildren.

He was born in Bertrand to August and Lavina (Schult) Bredenkamp. He was raised on a farm by the Platte River in Overton and attended Lexington High School. He went to Chicago, where he worked in several jobs, eventually becoming a bus boy at a country club. There he encountered Babe Ruth and got an autographed baseball and Ruth's signed golf scorecard.

Drafted into the Army Air Force during World War II, Dean served in the Panama Canal Zone as a mechanic on board B-29s. While there he swam out to sea with another man to rescue a woman drifting in a boat. She was a general's daughter and the feat earned him the Soldier's Medal in 1942.     Bredenkamp came to the Portland area after his military service to attend business school and there met Mary Lauderback. They were married April 14, 1950, in Gresham. She died in 1983.

He worked for a time as a car salesman and mechanic and eventually joined his father-in-law, Leonard Lauderback, at Scenic Fruit. He never really retired and continued to maintain an office at Scenic Fruit.

He was the second generation of his family to operate Scenic Fruit Company, a fruit processing business launched at Pleasant Home in 1931.     Bredenkamp was known in his industry for developing cryo-mechanical freezing techniques using liquid nitrogen to preserve fresh-picked berries. The process is now used worldwide. He was given the Oregon Berry Industry Recognition Award in 2007.

He was a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Northwest Food Processors Association and was active in Oregon's berry industry for 59 years. He liked to travel and visited all parts of the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

The family suggests donations to Redeemer Lutheran Church, 795 E. Powell Blvd., Gresham, 97080. Gresham Funeral Chapel is handling arrangements.