Posted on 10/04/2005 9:34:17 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Former Gov. Stan Hathaway, who spearheaded creation of a trust fund to harness Wyoming's mineral wealth and established the state's first environmental restraints on mineral development, died Tuesday evening. He was 81.
Hathaway died at home, according to his law partner, Brent Kunz, who declined to provide details. Hathaway had been hospitalized for several days last month for an undisclosed condition.
Hathaway served two terms as Republican governor from 1967 to 1975. He enacted the state's first severance tax on minerals mined and pumped from Wyoming, and created a permanent trust fund where severance tax money was invested, earning enough to run a major portion of the state's government operations today.
Hathaway was born in Osceola, Neb., on July 19, 1924. He interrupted his college education in 1943 to serve in the Army Air Force in World War II, flying bomber missions in Europe.
After the war, Hathaway received bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Nebraska, where he met and married his wife, Roberta "Bobby" Hathaway. She died last year.
Hathaway practiced law in Torrington until 1966, when he entered politics and was elected governor at age 42.
During his first term, the state approved the first environmental controls on its burgeoning minerals industry. He signed into law the state air quality act in 1967 and the state water quality act in 1968.
After Hathaway won re-election in 1970, his administration supported creation of the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund with the taxes on extracted minerals. The fund now totals more than $2 billion and in 2004 it raised $98 million for the state.
Hathaway also approved creation of the state Department of Environmental Quality, which enforces environmental regulations.
President Ford appointed Hathaway as secretary of the interior in June 1975, but he resigned the following month because of ill health. He moved to Cheyenne and resumed his law practice.
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