OLYMPIA, Wash. – Former Washington Governor Daniel Evans died Friday at the age of 98.
Evans served as Washington’s governor from 1965 to 1977. He was the second to last Republican to serve as governor of the Evergreen State, with John Spellman being the most recent member of the GOP to lead from 1981 to 1985.
Evans was a Boy Scout and Navy officer who got interested in politics after becoming frustrated with how the US was handling the Korean War. After serving as governor over the course of three terms, he took a few years away from civic leadership to become president of Evergreen State College.
He resumed his political career in the US Senate from 1983 to ‘89. The environment was a consistent concern for the late governor over the course of his life. He was chairman of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council while he ran for senator and led Evergreen.
He represents an earlier generation of conservation-minded Republicans who worked across the aisle with Democrats on ecological issues throughout the 1960s and 1970s
After his tenure in the US senate, Evans pivoted back to academic work. He was president of University of Washington’s Board of Regents in the late 1990s, where he continued to serve as a board member until 2005.
Over the last decade of his life, he continued to highlight ecological issues and advocate for a strong public university system.
His wife Nancy Evans died in January. He is survived by three sons and nine grandchildren.
