Cloquet native dies after Duluth stabbing

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Cloquet alumnus Kevin Tyman, 54, died last week after being stabbed at his duplex on East Seventh Street in Duluth late last Friday.

On Sunday Duluth police identified Tyman as the victim of the stabbing at 15 E. Seventh St., which was reported just after 10 p.m. Friday. The father of two died from his wounds about 90 minutes later at a Duluth hospital. Police said Sunday that there are no suspects in custody, but investigators are pursuing several leads in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

Tyman grew up in Cloquet, the fourth of eight kids in his family, said his brother Gary Tyman. Kevin graduated from Cloquet High School, where “he could play all the sports, but he was good at (downhill) skiing,” Gary said. Kevin was on the ski team, and even took a few runs down the ski jumps in Cloquet. He could make flawless runs down slopes of moguls, Gary said.

Retired teacher and ski jump coach Joe Nowak said he had Tyman in class – Nowak taught middle school science – and remembers him from skiing.

“He was a real nice kid,” Nowak said.

After school, Kevin Tyman spent several years in the Marines and was proud of his service, Gary Tyman said. He married and helped raise a son and daughter. Kevin and his wife divorced years ago, and the children, now in their 20s, live elsewhere in Minnesota. Gary Tyman said his brother relished the time he was able to spend with his kids.

Kevin was self-employed in landscaping for a time, Gary Tyman said. He acquired a wide range of skills – plumbing, carpentry, electrical work – and while he may not have been an expert, he certainly knew enough to help his neighbors.

Neighbor Bill Vail recalled Tyman as someone he’d come to count on in recent years – always willing to help around his house and yard, as well as shoveling walks, mowing lawns and fixing things for the elderly and others who couldn’t do the work themselves.

Kevin Tyman had lived at his duplex on East Seventh Street for about 10 to 12 years. Vail said Tyman sometimes seemed to put his neighbors’ needs ahead of his own, helping with their projects at the expense of time to do work on his own home.

“He’d do anything for anybody,” Vail said.

Tyman had had some scrapes in his life. Court records show a few misdemeanor convictions, the last more than six years ago.

But Gary Tyman said those rough patches did not define his brother, whom he described as a spiritual and kind-hearted man, taking after his father.

“He had a good heart. He was not a perfect person, but he would give you the shirt off his back,” Gary Tyman said of his brother.

Pine Journal Editor Jana Peterson contributed to this story.

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