Daniel J. Evans: Engineer Governor Who Saved Washington's Wilderness

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Daniel J. Evans was born in Seattle in 1925 to a family that reached Washington Territory in 1859. An Eagle Scout and scout camp hike master, he went through the Navy V-12 program, served as an ensign on Pacific aircraft carriers after World War II, and returned to service during the Korean War. With two civil engineering degrees from the University of Washington, he helped design Seattle's double decked Alaskan Way Viaduct. He entered the state House in 1957, defeated Governor Albert Rosellini in 1964, and became one of only three Washington governors to serve three terms, from 1965 to 1977.

A Republican, he founded the Washington State Department of Ecology in 1970, the first state agency of its kind and a blueprint for the federal EPA, built the community and technical college system, signed a bill legalizing abortion in the first four months of pregnancy, and pushed an unsuccessful state income tax. He gave the 1968 Republican convention keynote but had backed Nelson Rockefeller and refused to endorse Richard Nixon. After leading Evergreen State College from 1977 to 1983, he was appointed to Henry M. Jackson's Senate seat, beat Mike Lowry in the special election, and retired in 1988 after publicly lamenting Senate gridlock.

• During his 1972 campaign, Ted Bundy volunteered in disguise and secretly recorded opponents' rallies; Evans never met him.
• He was considered for vice president in 1968, 1974 and 1976.
• In 1976 he persuaded President Gerald Ford to sign the Alpine Lakes Wilderness bill despite Forest Service calls for a veto.
• After the Senate he cofounded the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition with Mike Lowry, his former opponent.
• The Olympic Wilderness was renamed for him in 2017, and he died in Seattle in September 2024 at 98.