A longtime state lawmaker from Juneau died earlier this week.
Family and former colleagues say Bill Hudson died on Monday. Flags were at half staff across the state on Thursday in his honor.
Hudson was a Republican who represented Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley District from 1987 to 2003.
He was originally from Arizona, graduated from high school in Idaho and moved to Alaska in 1970. He lived in Dot Lake, Ketchikan, Cordova and Soldotna before moving to Juneau in 1974.
He served 21 years in the Coast Guard and was the director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the commissioner of the state Department of Administration and director of the Alaska Marine Highway System.
Juneau’s legislative delegation remembered him on Thursday as a man who fought off attempts to move the state capital during his time as a legislator, as a fierce advocate for the Alaska Marine Highway System and as someone who helped secure funding for the former Glory Hall homeless shelter in downtown Juneau.
He was 88 years old.
