Former Alaska Gov. Bill Sheffield dies at 94

Bill Sheffield, a Democrat who served as Alaska’s fifth governor and survived a brush with impeachment during a decades-long career in public service, died Friday at his Anchorage home. He was 94.

Sheffield was born in 1928 to a poor family on a small farm in Spokane, Washington, and he grew up during the Great Depression. After serving as a radar technician with the U.S. Army, he got a job with Sears Roebuck and was sent to the Territory of Alaska.

”So that’s how I got here in 1953,” Sheffield said to Alaska Public Media in 2019 for the release of his memoir. “Come by steamship from Seattle to Seward, rode the train up to Anchorage, never turned back.”

A gifted salesman, Sheffield overcame a profound stutter on his way to founding a chain of 19 hotels, which were eventually sold to Holland America Line in 1987 and operate today as Westmark Hotels. The 1964 Good Friday earthquake damaged one hotel in downtown Anchorage but it was repaired.

A big donor to Democratic causes, Sheffield eyed a career in politics. He aborted a 1978 run as governor when his wife, Lee, was diagnosed with cancer. She later died in his arms, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported.

[Photo gallery: Former Alaska Gov. Bill Sheffield]

In 1982, Sheffield largely bankrolled his own campaign and handily won election to be governor over Republican Tom Fink, Libertarian Dick Randolph and Joe Vogler, founder of the Alaska Independence Party. He was investigated for having accepted money from oil companies to retire his campaign debt but was never charged.

The 1982 campaign saw Sheffield run on opposing a ballot measure to move Alaska’s capital from Juneau and supporting another measure to ensure subsistence hunting and fishing rights.

Sheffield traveled extensively as governor across Alaska to the smallest and most remote communities. Former Commissioner John Pugh, who served under Sheffield and traveled with him, remembered his “amazing energy” and focus on developing Alaska, such as pushing for the construction of the Ketchikan Shipyard.

“It wasn’t just about knowing about problems, it was about trying to solve problems,” Pugh said.

Former Department of Administration Commissioner Eleanor Andrews remembered successfully working with Sheffield to get more women and minorities into the public sector. And his push for equal pay for women.

“I just think that Bill was generous, supportive of people, and just had a good heart,” she said.

In that period, the state operated under four distinct time zones with Juneau and Anchorage two hours apart, which caused confusion and frustration for citizens and the business community. In 1983, Sheffield successfully pushed to change that so Alaska would operate under a single time zone, apart from the far western reaches of the Aleutian Islands.

Decades later, Sheffield cited that as one of his greatest accomplishments as governor. He also cited the opening of the massive Red Dog Mine north of Kotzebue, which he championed alongside former state legislator Willie Hensley.

On Red Dog’s 25th anniversary in 2014, Sheffield’s contribution to opening the zinc and lead mine was celebrated after it had produced more than $1 billion in royalties for Nana Regional Corp.

His time in office is perhaps best remembered, though, for his impeachment hearings. In 1985, a grand jury accused him of steering $9 million toward supporters to lease office space in Fairbanks. Sheffield was not indicted, but the grand jury’s recommendation that the Alaska Legislature consider impeaching him were made public after being obtained by news media.

Broadcast live on television each night over 12 days, the hearings resulted in a condemnation of Sheffield, but the state Senate did not recommend moving to an impeachment trial in the House.

In 1986, he ran for reelection, but the impeachment hearings had tarnished his reputation and the price of oil had plunged, strangling state revenue and leading to tough budget cuts. Sheffield lost in the primary to fellow Democrat Steve Cowper, who went on to win that year’s gubernatorial race with Steve McAlpine continuing on as lieutenant governor.

Sheffield was the first and only Alaska governor to have faced impeachment hearings. Pugh said the hearings may have been significant for his political career, but that they became a footnote in his long public service to Alaska.

“It’s the loss of an iconic figure,” said Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, who recounted talking with Sheffield after his time as governor and spoke about his rags-to-riches success story.

“He was a towering figure in the private sector, and the building up of Alaska,” Edgmon said. “And then he moved into politics and really transcended the political world in many respects.”

Sheffield’s public service career was far from over. He had advocated for the state to buy the Alaska Railroad from the federal government when he was governor, and Sheffield went on to serve on the railroad’s board of directors and then as the corporation’s CEO.

He helped to bring in millions of dollars in federal funding with the late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. And the train terminal at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is named in Sheffield’s honor.

For over a decade, he was the director of the Port of Anchorage, and was credited with bringing in another influx of federal dollars to help expand it. Cost estimates for that expansion ballooned before Sheffield retired as director in 2012 at the age of 83, but he kept serving as a liaison.

Sheffield was appointed to the board of the Alaska Community Foundation in 2013 and he continued to give generously to charitable causes. Pugh said that reflected his commitment to using his time and wealth to help Alaska.

“He came in ‘53, and stayed, and he has given back with his life of dedication to public service and with his resources,” he said.

Years passed and he continued to be active in Alaska politics, raising funds and supporting both Republican and Democratic candidates. In 2018, Sheffield was celebrated on his 90th birthday by Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan as “the Alaskan of the Week” for his bipartisanship and decades of service to the state.

Sheffield spent the past 30 years with Cheri McGuire as his partner. The two traveled the world extensively.

He died after a long illness. Those close to him recounted spending time with him in the days and hours leading up to his death. He is survived by McGuire and his friends.