Former Alaska Gov. Jay Hammond dead at 83

JUNEAU, Alaska — Jay Hammond, a bush pilot and hunting guide who served two terms as Alaska's governor during a period that helped define modern Alaska, died today at his Lake Clark home, police said. He was 83.

Alaska State Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said troopers received a call from the National Park Service at about 9:40 a.m. alerting them that Hammond had died at his southwest Alaska home. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Hammond, both a conservative and a conservationist, was at the state's helm from 1975 to 1982. During his time in office the first oil flowed down the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, federal land reserves grew vastly, a broad-based tourism industry was born, fishery stocks were revived and the permanent fund, the state's oil wealth savings account, was created.