Walter J. Hickel

Former Alaska governor and U.S. Interior Secretary Wally Hickel died May 7, 2010, of natural causes at the Providence Horizon House.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 5 p.m. Monday, May 17, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 3900 Wisconsin St. A visitation will be from
3-5 p.m. at the church.
In his active business and civic life, he helped set the terms of Alaska statehood, convinced President Nixon to support the Alaska Native lands claims, drove the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and established the safeguards for the construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
In later years, Hickel became an Arctic statesman, uniting the peoples of the North. He co-founded The Northern Forum, an association of more than 30 regional governors, and was appointed its secretary-general for life in 1994. In 1995, he established the Institute of the North dedicated to Alaska strategic issues, including caring for and using the "commons" to help the people in the North.
On March 16, 2006, he was the first non-Russian to address Vladimir Putin's "Public Chamber," a think-tank for Russia's future, where he spoke of Alaska as an "Owner State." He was convinced that with the Alaska approach, which combines a democracy with free enterprise and common ownership of lands and resources, "there is no legitimate reason for poverty." The core of his philosophy was that the state, representing all Alaskans, not the industry or the federal government, should decide the best use of Alaska's state-owned lands and resources.
He felt his greatest contribution to Alaska was in 1952, when as a young businessman he flew to Washington, D.C., and convinced Senate Republican leader Bob Taft to re-commit an Alaska statehood bill that granted the state only 3 million of its 365 million acres. He was attacked by Anchorage Times publisher Bob Atwood for derailing statehood, but as a result, Alaska eventually received 103 million acres from which it has built its economy and enviable quality of life.
Unimpressed by partisanship, Hickel was elected governor as a Republican (1966-1968) and later as the Alaskan Independence Party candidate (1990-1994). He never hesitated to stand up to presidents or powerful corporate giants. In his first term, he pushed exploration of Prudhoe Bay when leaseholders were leaving the Slope. "You drill or I will," he threatened.
With a sweeping "universal settlement" with Exxon, he resolved state and federal claims for $1 billion in just 60 days following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill that had preceded his election. He then reclaimed
$4 billion of unpaid taxes and royalties from oil producers and helped secure community development quotas to bring the benefits of offshore fisheries onshore to help Alaska's coastal villages.
National environmental leaders fought his confirmation as Interior secretary, but within days of taking office, he won their praise for shutting down all U.S. offshore oil drilling to upgrade federal regulations following the Santa Barbara oil spill of January 1969. As secretary, he clashed with President Nixon's top aides. Never a fan of the Vietnam War, Hickel strongly opposed the Cambodia Invasion (1970), wrote a critical letter to the president following the Kent State killings and took giant corporations to court for polluting U.S. water. When Nixon fired him after 22 months on the job "for a mutual lack of respect," Hickel returned to his office at the Interior to sign an order putting all eight species of great whales on the Endangered Species List.
The Hickels remained friends of the Nixons, however, and in 1971 hosted a reception for them at their home when Japan's Emperor Hirohito stopped in Anchorage en route to Europe. His views on resource development and the environment were difficult to pigeonhole. He passionately believed that wise development and conservation can and must go hand in hand. As secretary and as governor he created many new parks, yet he fought federal lands legislation that eventually locked up millions of acres of Alaska lands and sued the federal government for violating the Alaska Statehood Act.
Born Aug. 18, 1919, Walter Joseph Hickel grew up on his parents' Dust Bowl tenant farm during the Depression in Claflin, Kan., arriving in Alaska in 1940 with 37 cents in his pocket. As he sailed into Prince William Sound, he was awestruck by the Wrangell Mountains and vowed, "You take care of me, and I'll take care of you."
Working odd jobs, Hickel, 1938 welterweight Golden Gloves champ of Kansas, made a name for himself in a boxing ring. He worked at the Alaska Railroad and married Jannice Cannon in 1941. They had one son, Ted; however Jannice became ill and died in 1943. In 1945, Hickel married Ermalee Strutz, daughter of Louis and Aline Strutz. Wally and Ermalee had five more sons: Bob, Wally Jr., Jack, Joe and Karl.
After the war, he founded Hickel Construction Company building hundreds of homes as well as shopping centers, motels and his flagship Hotel Captain Cook, which he built immediately following the 1964 earthquake. He saw big projects as an alternative to war and supported Russian leaders who wanted to open the Northern Sea Route to world commerce, and he promoted a tunnel beneath the Bering Strait to connect the U.S. and Russia and make possible "a railroad around the world."
With former Democratic Gov. Bill Egan, he co-founded Commonwealth North in 1979, a non-partisan policy forum in Anchorage, and Yukon Pacific Corp. in 1983 that obtained the permits and the export license to construct an All-Alaska gas pipeline from Prudhoe to Valdez, a project he still was fighting for last week.
A severe dyslexic and mostly self-educated, Hickel received 12 honorary college degrees for his accomplishments. In May 1988, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan bestowed on him the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Japan's highest honor, for establishing trade and friendly relations between Alaska and Japan.
He wrote a national bestseller, "Who Owns America?" (1971) and "Crisis in the Commons: the Alaska Solution" (2002), which was translated into Russian. "The Wit and Wisdom of Wally Hickel," a collection of quotable quips and quotes compiled by Malcolm Roberts, was published in 1994.
Hickel was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Emma (Zecha) Hickel; his first wife, Janice Cannon, and siblings Catherine "Kay" Stalker, Elmer Hickel and Maxine Hickel. He is survived by his wife, Ermalee; and their six sons and wives, Ted and Diane Hickel of Portland, Wash., Robert and Carol Hickel, Walter Jr. and Lynn Hickel, Dr. Jack and Josie Hickel, Joe and Marlene Hickel, Karl and Gloria Hickel, all of Anchorage; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Institute of the North Endowment Fund, Providence Alaska Medical Center, Commonwealth North or the Alaska SeaLife Center.