Hubbard County Attorney Jonathan Frieden, 43, dies of cancer

Jonathan Frieden loved being a county attorney and dreamed of being a judge.

The Hubbard County Attorney applied for the bench, but he had to decline a job interview because he was dying, his wife, Sarah Frieden, told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Monday evening. Frieden, diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in early summer 2023, died Saturday. He was 43.

“We just had faith and were hoping that it wouldn’t be as short as it was, but it was,” Sarah Frieden said.

Her husband continued working the job he loved until the end, she said, even from the hospital bed.

“He would be in so much pain and law enforcement would call and he’d be like, ‘What can I do for you, sir? No, now is not a bad time,’” she said.

Ninth District Judge Tamara Yon said in a phone interview Tuesday that Frieden would have made a great judge. “I have every reason to believe that,” she said.

“He was hardworking, smart, organized and just so personable. I mean, it’s not always easy to pull that off in that setting, in a courtroom,” she said. “You can still advocate for your client, in his case the state of Minnesota, but not be a jerk about it. He was just a fantastic young man. What a tragedy to lose him.”

“It’s a small population and large geography. ... The Ninth District is so large, and so when you lose somebody like him, it really makes an impact. He’s going to leave very big shoes to fill in Hubbard County. My heart goes out to his family and to his co-workers.”

Frieden was appointed county attorney in 2017 — then only 36 years old — to fill a retirement vacancy. He ran unopposed the next year and in 2022. He oversaw four attorneys in the Park Rapids office.

He had served as assistant county attorney for nearly a decade. He worked at law offices in Mahnomen and Bagley after graduating from William Mitchell College of Law in 2007, and studying political science at Valdosta State University.

He met Sarah Ulmer while she attended Hamline University. They married in 2007 and eventually moved to Park Rapids, where Sarah grew up.

There, they raised three girls: Addilyn, 16, Ceelia, 11, and Saige, 5. Sarah said Frieden was a proud “girl dad.”

“He loved his daughters; he loved life,” she said.

He was born an identical twin (older than his brother Rob by just a few minutes) in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 17, 1980. His parents, C. Robin and John Frieden, had seven children.

Jonathan Frieden loved fishing, golfing and debating politics. His obituary says he enjoyed serving the community with judges, law enforcement, support staff and fellow attorneys of his beloved “up north.”

“Jonathan derived a deep sense of purpose and joy from his work. He was passionate about justice and the law,” his obituary reads. “As one of his Assistant Attorneys described him: ‘Jonathan was a prosecutor who was much more interested in justice and getting it right than in winning.’ Jonathan loved being in court. He lit up the courtroom and the County Attorney’s office with his quick wit, enthusiasm, and unending optimism.”

Sarah Frieden said there are so many messages on her husband’s phone from people telling Frieden that he always saw the best in them, that he gave them a chance when no one else would.

Bob Small, executive director of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, said in a statement that the state’s county attorney community “is in deep mourning” for Frieden, who was a member of the association since 2008.

“He will be remembered as a good man who cared deeply about his family, his colleagues and the people of Hubbard County. His shared interest with his fellow County Attorneys in seeing that justice is done will be greatly missed.”

Frieden is preceded in death by his parents. Along with his wife, his twin and his daughters, he is survived by siblings Andi Gulley, Michelle Frieden, Liz James, Daniel Frieden and Isaac Frieden, as well as 18 nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church in Park Rapids.