Jackson Aide Corcoran Dies

Through most of his adult life, Brian Corcoran dedicated himself to either news or politics - from covering news as a newspaper editor to shaping news as press aide to Sen. Henry M. Jackson to serving on the Snohomish County Council.

It was a life full of ambition and zest - a life filled with love and happiness with his four children and wife of 45 years, Melvia.

Mr. Corcoran, who was living in Mill Creek and who had a heart attack a little more than a week ago, died Saturday afternoon at a Bellevue hospice. He was 70.

"He was a wonderful father and husband," his wife said.

Born in Independence, Ore., on Jan. 6, 1927, Mr. Corcoran began grade school in Everett, where his family roots extended back to the 1890s, his wife said.

As a teenager, Mr. Corcoran moved to Bremerton, where his mother worked at the naval shipyard during World War II.

After graduating from Bremerton High School in 1943, Mr. Corcoran married the former Melvia Noggle in 1951, while he was the sports editor at The Bremerton Sun.

In 1954, he took a job as sports editor of The (Everett) Herald.

But by 1961, Mr. Corcoran, who had longstanding interest in politics, took a job as press aide to Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson.

After moving his family to Arlington, Va., Mr. Corcoran also earned his bachelor's degree in American history at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

"He used to take the children into his office on Saturday

mornings when he had to work," his wife said. "He always had time for the family. We'd plan trips to the Eastern Shore every summer, and we'd take trips to New York with the children and see Broadway shows."

When Jackson died in office in 1983, Mr. Corcoran immediately went to the family home and acted as a spokesman.

"He was a great help to the whole family," said Helen Jackson, the senator's widow. "He always said just the right thing."

In 1978, after 17 years in Virginia, Mr. Corcoran returned to Everett and filed as a Democrat for a House seat in the 2nd Congressional District. Al Swift of Bellingham won the post.

In 1983, Mr. Corcoran was elected to a two-year term as a Snohomish County councilman, was re-elected two years later and again in 1989.

During those nine years, Mr. Corcoran was at the forefront of trying to resolve transportation issues, including pushing a building moratorium along the Bothell-Everett Highway south of Mill Creek and helping to push legislators to raise more road revenue.

It was those efforts that led to recent improvements to Highway 527 between Everett and Bothell, Southwest 164th Street and the nearly completed interchange at Southwest 196th Street in Lynnwood, said Snohomish County Council member Karen Miller.

"He was very straightforward. He made his expectations known," Miller said. "He also was a student of government. He really enjoyed being in government. He learned a lot in the many years he worked with Scoop."

In 1992, Mr. Corcoran resigned, two years before his term was up, to retire.

"He was 65 and he felt like it was time to stop and smell the roses," his wife said.

But even in his retirement, Mr. Corcoran was full of life.

"He was very big into computers and would e-mail all his friends," she said. "He could pick up all the news on the computer whenever we were out of state."

In addition to his wife, survivors include daughters Keri Nikolajevic, of Falls Church, Va.; Vickie Wolfrey, of Reston, Va.; Cindy Weinmann, of Mukilteo, and son Brian Corcoran Jr., of Everett; and seven grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements were expected later this week.

Arthur Santana's phone message number is 206-515-5684. His e-mail address is: asan-new@seatimes.com

- Material from the Associated Press and Seattle Times staff reporter Murray Whyte was used in this report.