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Booth Gardner
Booth Gardner
19th Governor of Washington
	In office; January 16, 1985 – January 13, 1993
Lieutenant	John Cherberg; Joel Pritchard
Preceded by	John Spellman
Succeeded by	Mike Lowry
Chair of the National Governors Association
	In office; July 31, 1990 – August 20, 1991
Preceded by	Terry Branstad
Succeeded by	John Ashcroft
1st Pierce County Executive
	In office; May 1, 1981 – January 1, 1985
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Joe Stortini
Member of the Washington Senate; from the 26th district
	In office; January 11, 1971 – December 13, 1973
Preceded by	Larry Faulk
Succeeded by	Clifford W. Beck
Personal details
Born	William Booth Gardner; August 21, 1936; Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Died	March 15, 2013 (aged 76); Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	; Jean Forstrom (m. 1960; div. 2001) ; Cynthia Perkins (m. 2001; div. 2008)
Education	University of Washington, Seattle (BA); Harvard University (MBA)

William Booth Gardner (August 21, 1936 – March 15, 2013) was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Washington from 1985 to 1993. He also served as the ambassador of the GATT. A member of the Democratic Party, Gardner previously served as a state senator, representing the 26th district from 1971 to 1973, and was the Pierce County Executive prior to his tenure as governor. His service was notable for advancing standards-based education and environmental protection.

Early life, education, and early career

Born in Tacoma, Gardner attended Clover Park Junior High in Lakewood before graduating from Lakeside School in Seattle.^[1] His parents divorced when he was very young; through his mother's remarriage he became an heir to the Weyerhaeuser fortune. His mother and younger sister, his only sibling, died in a plane crash when he was 14.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Gardner was a graduate of the University of Washington and Harvard Business School.^[6] His stepfather was Norton Clapp, one of the original owners of the Seattle Space Needle.^[7] Booth co-owned the Tacoma Tides, who played for one year in the American Soccer League in 1976.^[8] He was also a part-time soccer coach for various teams, including the Tacoma Cozars.^[9] In 1978, he co-owned the Colorado Caribous franchise in the NASL with Jim Guercio.^[10]

Governor of Washington (1985–1993)

In the Democratic primary for governor in 1984, Gardner defeated Jim McDermott. In the general election,^[11] he unseated one-term Republican incumbent John Spellman. Gardner was easily elected to a second term in 1988 over state representative Bob Williams,^[12] and chose not to seek a third term in 1992.^[5]

While governor, Gardner signed into law a health care program that provided state medical insurance for the working poor. He helped develop land-use and growth-management policies that made Washington an early environmental leader, steered hundreds of millions of dollars of increased spending toward state universities, increased standardized testing in public education, and improved legal protections for gay people.^[5]

On March 21, 1992, Gardner signed a measure that outlawed selling "obscene" music to minors in the state of Washington. The law went into effect on June 11 of that year, and make record store retailers and their employees criminally liable for selling such music to anyone under the age of 18.^[13]

Later years

A year after leaving office, Gardner was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In 2006, he announced his support for assisted suicide.^[14] In 2008, he filed and successfully spearheaded the campaign for Initiative 1000, Washington's Death With Dignity Act, which was closely modeled on Oregon's assisted dying law;^[15] he remained involved in implementing the Act.^[16] Gardner said that he supported going even further than the current Washington and Oregon laws, to eventually permit lethal prescriptions for people whose suffering is unbearable without the requirement that the sufferer have a terminal condition.^[17]

In 2009, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, a short documentary film, was produced by Just Media and HBO, chronicling the Initiative 1000 campaign. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.^[18]

Gardner supported eliminating Washington's WASL test, a standardized test that was required to graduate high school. It was replaced in 2009 by the MSP for grades three through eight and the HSPE for grades eight through twelve.^[19]

Gardner died of Parkinson's disease at age 76 at his Tacoma home on March 15, 2013.^[20]

References

^ "Former Gov. Booth Gardner Dies". Congressman Denny Heck. March 16, 2013. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
^ "22 are dead in plane crash". Spokane Daily Chronicle. United Press. April 7, 1951. p. 1.
^ "22 die in airliner crash". Oxnard Press-Courier. (California). April 7, 1951. p. 1.
^ "22 persons killed in plane crash". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. April 8, 1951. p. 1.
^ ^a ^b ^c Yardley, William (March 18, 2013). "Booth Gardner Dies at 76; Ex-Washington Governor". The New York Times.
^ La Corte, Rachel (March 16, 2013). "Former Wash. Gov. Booth Gardner dies". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014.
^ "Wealthy Washingtonian Norton Clapp Dies". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. April 25, 1995. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^ Luebker, Earl (April 28, 1976). "Tides making fans believe soccer exists". The News Tribune. p. B1. Retrieved August 11, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Farber, Stan (June 20, 1984). "Between speeches, Gardner coaches a soccer power". The News Tribune. p. D1.
^ Boehm, Charles (July 30, 2015). "The strange but true story of the Caribous of Colorado and their unforgettable fringe uniforms". MLSsoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
^ "Gardner". Spokane Chronicle. advertisement. November 5, 1984. p. 16.
^ "THE 1988 ELECTIONS: West; WASHINGTON". The New York Times. November 9, 1988. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
^ Egan, Timothy (March 21, 1992). "Washington Governor Signs Measure on Obscene Music". The New York Times. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
^ Postman, David (February 7, 2006), "Ex-governor backs initiative to legalize assisted suicide", The Seattle Times
^ Tu, Janet I. (November 5, 2008), "'Death with dignity' act passes", The Seattle Times, archived from the original on February 6, 2009
^ Tu, Janet I. (February 11, 2009), "Rules governing state's Death With Dignity law debated", The Seattle Times, archived from the original on February 15, 2009
^ Bergner, Daniel (December 2, 2007), "Death in the Family", The New York Times
^ Oscars, Nominees (February 2010). "2009 Oscar Nominees". USA: Oscars. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
^ Shaw, Linda (December 9, 2005), "Former governor now opposing WASL test for diploma", The Seattle Times, archived from the original on March 10, 2007
^ "Former Wash. Gov. Booth Gardner Dies". ABC News. Retrieved March 16, 2013.

External links

Media related to Booth Gardner at Wikimedia Commons

Gardner, William Booth at HistoryLink
Booth Gardner entry at the National Governors Association
IMDB Entry for "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
New office	Executive of Pierce County 1981–1984	Succeeded by Joe Stortini
Preceded by John Spellman	Governor of Washington 1985–1993	Succeeded by Mike Lowry
Preceded by Terry Branstad	Chair of the National Governors Association 1990–1991	Succeeded by John Ashcroft
Party political offices
Preceded by Jim McDermott	Democratic nominee for Governor of Washington 1984, 1988	Succeeded by Mike Lowry