Kenneth Dahlberg | Onetime Nixon aide, 94

Minnesota businessman Kenneth Dahlberg, 94, a World War II ace and an inadvertent figure in the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon's presidency, died Tuesday of natural causes at his Deephaven home in Minnesota.

Even though Mr. Dahlberg did not commit any wrongdoing, he was swept into the Watergate scandal as Midwest finance chairman of Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that he had become linked to the scandal after a check he delivered to the Nixon campaign turned up in a Watergate burglar's bank account. The contribution was legal, and a grand jury cleared Mr. Dahlberg.

"He never did anything wrong, and he knew that. So he never minded talking about it [Watergate]," said Dahlberg attorney and family friend Warren Mack, who wrote Mr. Dahlberg's biography, One Step Forward: The Life of Ken Dahlberg.

Mr. Dahlberg also was a World War II flying ace who was shot down three times behind enemy lines, escaped twice, and was a prisoner of war in Munich for the last few months of the war. He founded Miracle Ear Hearing Aid Co. and spearheaded other business ventures, including the Minneapolis-based restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings Inc., which he helped fund.

His political activities grew out of a wartime friendship with Barry Goldwater. He was a deputy chairman of fund-raising for the Arizona Republican's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1964.    - AP