Anson Brooks; Newsprint Industry Legend Befriended Many In Travels

Anson Brooks was a great shot and fly fisherman who knew how to pierce people's hearts and reel them into his close circle of friends.

The one to always tell stories and make toasts at parties, Mr. Brooks, a retired businessman and supporter of the arts, was a man with many friends who had a deep compassion for people, family members and friends say.

Whether it was helping unwed mothers, co-signing loans for people down on their luck or being there for a friend in need, he was a gracious and giving man who knew and loved many.

"You just couldn't help but love the man if you knew him, and that was almost universal," said Dan Stryker, a former president of the Powell River-Alberni Sales Corp., who worked with Mr. Brooks for almost 20 years.

"Any race, color or creed, they were his friends. He would have many people come into this office - from the presidents of the largest companies to barbers and plain people," Stryker said.

Mr. Brooks died of a heart attack Monday (July 27) in Seattle. He was 77.

He was president and chief operating officer of the Powell River-Alberni Sales Corp., the largest newsprint producer in the Pacific Northwest, until his retirement in 1980. He served on the board of directors for the parent company, MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. in Vancouver, B.C., from 1945 to 1980.

"He built the company from a sales standpoint as a major supplier of newsprint to newspapers on the West Coast, Southeast Asia and South America," said C. Calvert Knudson, who was the chairman and chief executive officer of MacMillan Bloedel until his retirement in 1983.

"Anson was sort of a legend of the newspaper (industry) in the United States. Everybody knew him, and everybody loved him," Knudson said.

Born in Minneapolis, Minn., Mr. Brooks graduated from Yale University. He had lived in the Northwest for 50 years.

An expert fly fisherman, Mr. Brooks tied his own flies, made his own rods and traveled the world to find the best trout, salmon and bonefish.

He also was an expert bird hunter.

And everywhere he went, he made friends.

"He had friends that spanned all ages and all walks of life," said Barclay Perry, a stepson in Los Angeles. "He treated everyone well. Everybody in the room felt they had a special relationship with him, and they did.

"He was the kind of person who could talk to you like you held his absolute attention. He was willing to give more than he received. He was a giving man."

With his philosophy in life - to give something back to the community - Mr. Brooks touched many lives but was a humble, modest man who never boasted, said Anson Brooks Jr., his son.

Mr. Brooks served on the board of directors of the Seattle Art Museum and supported the Seattle Ballet, Children's Hospital and Medical Center and Ducks Unlimited, a national organization for the preservation of waterfowl.

"If people were hurting, he would go that extra yard, that extra mile or the extra 10,000 miles to let them know that he was there and helped them," Anson Brooks Jr. said.

Robert B. Wilson of Seattle, a lifelong friend and former classmate of Mr. Brooks at Yale, agreed.

"He was the most loving, kindly, much beloved person I've ever known," said Wilson, a retired chairman of the Weyerhaeuser Co. Mr. Brooks also is survived by his wife, Mary Margaret Buhler Brooks; a daughter, Robin Tost of New York City; a stepdaughter, Marda Runstad of Seattle; another son, Peter Brooks of New York City; another stepson, Richard Perry of Seattle; three sisters, Barbara Kroos of Milwaukee, Wis., Polly Hollern and Stanley Gregory, both of Minneapolis; a brother, Sheldon Brooks of Minneapolis; and eight grandchildren.

Services were to be held at 11 a.m. today at the Epiphany Parish of Seattle, 38th Avenue and East Denny Way. Cremation will follow.

Memorials may be made to the Children's Hospital & Medical Center or Ducks Unlimited.