Gordon Myles Younger

1938 - 2017

Gordon Myles Younger

Gordon Myles Younger, 79, passed away in his home in Seattle after an extended illness. Gordon founded a corrugated box business and grew it into a major NW manufacturer, employing 500 people in four states. He was a substantial contributor to charitable causes including protecting the natural environment of the West. And he was a widely read, thoughtful and strongly opinionated thinker who kept everyone around him intellectually engaged.

Gordon was born on April 26, 1938 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to Arvid Myles and Edith Younger. He attended Grinnell College, received an MBA from Wharton, and served in the army in Leavenworth, Kansas. He moved to the Pacific Northwest to work for the Boise Cascade Corporation in the 1960's as a sales representative.

Gordon decided to start his own company, named Seattle Packaging, in 1967 after a dispute over a 25-cent an hour raise with Boise Cascade. Gordon had the idea that instead of trying to make everything cheaper and cheaper, that you could try to make things a little better, and charge a little more. He felt that if you paid your employees a little more than you had to, and treated them a little more than fair, they would work harder for their customers.

By using this philosophy and re-investing in the enterprise, Gordon grew the business, starting and incorporating Beaverton Packaging, Spokane Packaging, Sheets Unlimited, Econobox, and Alliance Packaging. One of the things that he was most proud of in his life was that he was able to offer exceptional healthcare and other benefits to his employees while still running a successful business. Gordon was involved in his companies until the end of his life.

Gordon took great passion in philanthropic pursuits. He was a major supporter of the Western Watersheds Project whose mission is to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife. He supported Advocates of the West, an non-profit environmental law firm that works to protect natural landscapes and native wildlife. He also purchased Greenfire, a 440 acre nature preserve, to create a tangible example of how over-used lands could be returned to their native state. Gordon was a major contributor towards college education for disadvantaged youth having supported more than a dozen students in post high school education.

Gordon had a number of strong personal passions. Although his formal education was in business, Gordon became an amateur science expert in his adult life. He read hundreds of books on his favorite scientific topics including physics and the natural world. He was passionately politically involved, willing to spend untold hours explaining the virtues of the Democratic Party. Gordon was a hiker, skier and lover of the West's natural beauty. Much of his later life was spent in Sun Valley, ID enjoying these pursuits.

Gordon is survived by his sons, Eric (Heidi Campbell) and Scott (Dawn St. Clair); brother Lee (Pam) Younger; sister Gayle Johnson (Ken); and four grandchildren Kai, Zachary, Grace and Ella.

A service will be held in his honor

at noon on Sunday, October 8th, 2017 at Cedarbrook Lodge,

18525 36th Avenue, Seattle, 98188.

Instead of flowers, donations can be made to Northwest Harvest, PO Box 12272, Seattle, WA 98102; or Advocates for the West, PO Box 1612, Boise, ID 83701.