Boyd Burchard, Long-Time Writer For The Times Business Section

Boardman Boyd Burchard will occupy a legendary place in the history of The Seattle Times business news department, despite his death Thursday at 77.

For 24 years he reported for Times readers on business happenings in the area, as a columnist and auto and general-assignment reporter, under the byline Boyd Burchard until he retired in August 1985.

He also was a character, one who didn't even attend his own staff retirement party - everyone else had a good time celebrating for him on a boat on Lake Union.

A fiercely independent and slight man, with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, Mr. Burchard knew business inside out and was able to turn even mundane entreprenurialship into fascinating reading about people.

From civic events to foreign trade, shoe stores to car sales lots, he found interesting stories that revealed human character.

"Around the office, Boyd was relatively quiet and unassuming," recalls Times stocks columnist Greg Heberlein.

"But his network of contacts was amazing. He seemed to know a senior executive in almost every big business around town.

"It was a little like the old TV commercial, where the man said, `Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton and he says . . .' We'd all crane to hear the latest corporate boss Boyd had talked to."

Mr. Burchard's ability to write about anything and his understanding of business impressed Michael Parks, a former Times business writer and editor who now publishes Marple's Business Newsletter.

"He always made the interviewee comfortable and was able to get the story," Parks said.

"He was the first columnist to personalize the face of business in Seattle," said Lane Smith, retired city editor and omsbudsman.

Henry MacLeod, retired managing editor, said he hired Mr. Burchard in 1961 because of his business knowledge and contacts in the city.

"Business coverage at that time was very limited, pretty much just statistical. "We wanted to broaden and humanize it and Boyd did a good job," MacLeod said.

"He had a wonderful, wry sense of humor," said Hunter Simpson, longtime Seattle businessman and civic leader who often was mentioned in Mr. Burchard's columns.

"I always respected what he did at the paper and had the utmost respect for what he wrote. He was always upbeat."

Mr. Burchard wrote for the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce and trade publications.

Mr. Burchard was born Aug. 14, 1915 in Lake Forest, Ill. He had a degree in economics from Grinnell College in Iowa.

He liked sailing and flying, despite a punctured eardrum that kept him out of World War II. His former wife, LaVonne, said they owned several boats through the years - he was living aboard one when he became ill five months ago - and they did a lot of sailboat racing in the Knockabout fleet on Lake Washington during the 1950s.

They and their two daughters also cruised in the San Juans, where Mr. Burchard set an early example of environmentalism by cleaning litter off beaches.

In 1969 and '70, the Burchards flew around the world in their Cessna 182, with Mr. Burchard as pilot. He filed columns from many distant points during the period.

Daughter Jerie Clark of San Diego said she and her sister, Jill Malaspina of Orcas Island, will most remember their father for his willingness to help anyone, anytime, and for his sense of humor to the end of his life.

A touching memory of Mr. Burchard stems from a reunion with other Times retirees while he was being treated for his final illness.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the room," said MacLeod, "when he raised up in his wheelchair and declared, `When I worked at The Times everybody said I was an airhead. Well, now, that I've had half my brain removed, I really am.' "

Other survivors include four grandsons.

Family and friends will gather at the Burchard home on Mercer Island this afternoon for a "going-away" party. There was no funeral. The family suggests remembrances be sent to Hospice of Seattle, 425 Pontius Ave. N., Suite 300, Seattle 98109.