Fred, thanks for sharing although you weren't supposed to, smile.
Marcia
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Sent: Friday, October 18, 2019 8:59 PM
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Subject: [msb-alumni] Fwd: Article from Detroit Free Press News Section 2019 10
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From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Date: October 18, 2019 at 7:55:30 PM CDT
To: Fred Olver <fredolver@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:fredolver@xxxxxxxxx> >
Subject: Article from Detroit Free Press News Section 2019 10 18
Former Michigan Governor William Milliken dies at 97 Paul Egan , Detroit Free
Press William Milliken, who was Michigan's longest-serving governor and a
champion for Detroit, the environment, and a far more moderate Republican
Party, died Friday. He was 97. Milliken, who was governor from 1969 to? 1983,
was a World War II air combat veteran, a retailer, state senator, and
lieutenant governor (to George Romney), all before becoming Michigan's 44th
governor. Milliken died at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Traverse City home he built
himself, 60 years ago, said Jack Lessenberry, a spokesman for the family. He
had been under hospice care. "He was one of the nicest men you will ever meet,"
said Bill Rustem, who was a 20-year-old MSU student when he became a Milliken
intern and went on to become a spokesman, speech writer and policy adviser to
the former governor. "It was an age of civility when compromise was not a bad
word, and when you listened, instead of shouted," Rustem said. "He'll be
remembered both in Michigan and across the country as one of the people who
helped pull the nation into a new era of environmental responsibility. Barring
a change to the state constitution, which since the 1990s limits governors to
two four-year terms, Milliken's record 14 years as governor of Michigan will
never be surpassed. He was also the oldest ex-governor in state history,
surpassing the record of Alpheus Finch, who served briefly as governor before
the Civil War and died much later at age 91. After leaving office, he rejected
the rightward turn of the GOP and expressed regret at the bitterness and
divisiveness of public life. "Today, politics is very mean and nasty. It just
doesn't serve the public as well as it should," he said in 2014. During his
years in office, Milliken "shunned the extremes and sought to govern from the
center," wrote Michigan environmentalist Dave Dempsey in his 2006 biography,
"William Milliken: Michigan's Passionate Moderate. He was known as a champion
of Detroit and the state's environment, working closely with the late former
Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, and pushing for Michigan's bottle deposit law,
among other initiatives. He made Michigan the first state to ban PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyls), which were widely used in electrical transformers
and linked to cancer, and DDT, a pesticide harmful to wildlife and humans. Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer praised Milliken? as "a true statesman who led our state with
integrity and honor," and a man with "a unique ability to bring people from
both sides of the aisle together for the betterment of Michigan. Milliken grew
up in Traverse City, where his family owned Milliken's department stores, which
had three stores in the region but no longer exists.? He ran the family
business after graduating from Yale University. During World War II, Milliken?
flew 50 combat missions and survived two crash landings. He? was awarded a
Purple Heart. Once an active runner, Milliken remained an active walker around
Traverse City after a bad back caused him to slow his pace, when he was in his
90s. Milliken is survived by his son, William? Jr. Milliken's wife,? Helen,
died of ovarian cancer in 2012, at age 89. His daughter Elaine died of cancer
in 1993. More: Grand Traverse GOP disowns ex-Gov. Milliken over his Clinton
support More: Milliken throws support behind regional transit More: Former
Michigan Republican Gov. Milliken endorses Clinton over Trump Milliken was? a
third-generation politician, serving as a state senator like his father and
grandfather. Romney was tapped by Richard Nixon to join his administration as
Housing and Urban Development director, and Milliken ascended to the governor's
job. He was elected three times. Under the current term-limit system, his
record years in office won't be topped. Milliken became governor in 1969, less
than two years after the Detroit riot, believing the success of Michigan and
Detroit? was intertwined. Milliken had a close working relationship with Young,
the Democratic and bombastic former mayor of Detroit, as the governor
championed statutory state revenue sharing, which aided Detroit and other
cities during tough economic times in the 1970s. "I trusted him and I liked
him," Milliken said of Young. "I tried hard to do everything I could to be
helpful to the city of Detroit and the mayor. We weren't entirely successful.
He said in an interview he wished they could have done more on issues such as
regional transportation and investment for the riverfront. "When Gov. Milliken
decided he wasn't to going to run again for governor, the first person he
called was Mayor Young. And when Mayor Young decided he was not going to run
again, the first person he called was Gov. Milliken," the late? Bob Berg, press
secretary to both men at different times, said in 2014. "When they shook hands
on a deal they knew they could trust each other to follow through," Berg said.
"That's not always the case in politics these days. Another major issue for
Milliken was protecting? the Great Lakes and Michigan's environment. He pushed
through passage of the nation's most aggressive bottle recycling law Milliken
faced tough times in office with a major General Motors strike, and economic
meltdowns in Michigan amid oil embargoes. After he left office, former Chrysler
CEO Lee Iacocca named him to the automaker's board, citing his ability to work
well with various constituencies. Milliken continued to endorse political
candidates in recent years, regardless of their political stripe, as the
Republican Party moved further away from him to the right. In 2016, the?
Republican Party in Milliken's home county of Grand Traverse voted to no longer
recognize him as a Republican, after Milliken endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton
in the presidential race against Republican Donald Trump. Some of Milliken's
other Democratic endorsements over the years include former Gov. Jennifer
Granholm and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters. He also? endorsed Republicans, including
former Gov. Rick Snyder and the late Sen. John McCain when he ran for president
in 2008. Milliken's wife Helen, a leading advocate for the arts and the
environment,? was a political force in her own right. In 1980, she skipped the
opening ceremonies of the Republican National Convention in Detroit - of which
Gov. Milliken was a co-host - to attend a protest march outside the convention
decrying the party's decision to remove pro-Equal Rights Amendment language
from its platform. She also was an ardent supporter of abortion rights, in 1987
describing "all other rights" of a woman of "limited value" without the right
to choose when to bear children. With notes from? Free Press columnist? Carol
Cain,? Free Press staff writer Kathleen Gray, and former Free Press staff
writer Dawson Bell.
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