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 The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its p ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, Gardner previously served as a

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

, 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 Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. His parents divorced when he was very young; through his mother's remarriage he became an heir to the

Weyerhaeuser The Weyerhaeuser Company ( ) is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company has manufactured wood products for over a c ...

fortune. His mother and younger sister, his only sibling, died in a plane crash when he was 14. Gardner was a graduate of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. His stepfather was Norton Clapp, one of the original owners of the Seattle Space Needle. Booth co-owned the Tacoma Tides, who played for one year in the American Soccer League in 1976. He was also a part-time soccer coach for various teams, including the Tacoma Cozars. In 1978, he co-owned the Colorado Caribous franchise in the NASL with Jim Guercio.

Governor of Washington (1985–1993)

In the Democratic primary for governor in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, Gardner defeated Jim McDermott. In the general election, he unseated one-term Republican incumbent John Spellman. Gardner was easily elected to a second term in 1988 over state representative Bob Williams, and chose not to seek a third term in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. While governor, Gardner signed into law a health care program that provided state medical insurance for the

working poor The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...

. 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. 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.

Later years

A year after leaving office, Gardner was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. In 2006, he announced his support for

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

. 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; he remained involved in implementing the Act. 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. In 2009, '' The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner'', a short documentary film, was produced by Just Media and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

, chronicling the Initiative 1000 campaign. The film was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Documentary Short. 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. Gardner died of Parkinson's disease at age 76 at his Tacoma home on March 15, 2013.

References

External links

Gardner, William Booth
at HistoryLink

at the

National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American Politics of the United States, political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 U.S. state, states, Territories of the United States, territories ...

IMDB Entry for "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Booth 1936 births 2013 deaths American soccer chairmen and investors Businesspeople from Tacoma, Washington Deaths from Parkinson's disease in the United States Neurological disease deaths in Washington (state) Democratic Party governors of Washington (state) Euthanasia in the United States Harvard Business School alumni Lakeside School (Seattle) alumni North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives Politicians from Tacoma, Washington University of Washington alumni Democratic Party Washington (state) state senators County executives in Washington (state) Phi Delta Theta members 20th-century members of the Washington State Legislature