Richard Larsen, former Times political writer, dies at 73
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Former Seattle Times political writer Richard W. Larsen, who devoted much of his 50-year career to the cause of civility in American politics, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 73.
In 23 years at The Times, Mr. Larsen rose to associate editor while writing about subjects ranging from Thoroughbred horses to higher education, from blues music to serial murder. But Mr. Larsen's first love was politics, and it was in that arena where he left his mark.
"Dick was respected by people of all political leanings," said Times Executive Editor Michael Fancher. "He earned their admiration through the quality and even-handedness of his reporting. He never forgot that both journalists and politicians are servants of the public."
A Seattle native, Mr. Larsen was influenced by his mother, who had worked two shipyard jobs during World War II to make ends meet. "She believed in civility," Mr. Larsen wrote many years later. "She was often unimpressed by politicians I wrote about."
A passion for rational dialogue became a recurring theme in Mr. Larsen's journalism. He was less interested in the ideology of the debaters than in the tone of the debate.
After graduating from the University of Washington, Mr. Larsen went to work in 1953 for The Wenatchee World, where he covered the famous Goldmark trial. In that case, former state legislator John Goldmark sued right-wing extremists for libel over literature that had branded the Goldmarks as "communist sympathizers," a campaign that led to Goldmark's defeat.
As he covered the trial, Mr. Larsen heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated in Texas. This convergence of events instilled in the young reporter a deep antipathy for the radical politics of intolerance. Later he recalled asking himself: "What kind of evil is this that prowls our society and, as it stalks decency and love, grins evilly in the smug belief that it possesses ultimate virtue?"
In 1964, Mr. Larsen covered the congressional campaign of young Democratic newcomer Tom Foley. Foley won the election and asked Mr. Larsen to come to work for him. Mr. Larsen spent four years on Capitol Hill.
"He was extremely perceptive," recalled former U.S. Rep. Al Swift of Washington. "He possessed the politician's intuitive sense of what was going on, along with the reporter's analytical skills."
In 1968, Mr. Larsen joined The Times, where he soon became the chief political writer, covering the state Legislature, the transformation of city and county politics, the presidential campaigns of Sen. Henry M. Jackson and more.
He sprang from a generation of political journalists who believed their credibility depended on strict bipartisanship and fairness.
"Years later, people still ask me if Dick was a Democrat or a Republican," said longtime friend and colleague Herb Robinson. "I still don't know the answer."
When Jackson ran for president in 1972, Mr. Larsen collaborated with fellow reporter Bill Prochnau on a critical biography of the "senator from Boeing." At the same time, he developed a friendship with a young, seemingly ambitious Republican campaign worker named Theodore Bundy.
During the 1970s, Mr. Larsen witnessed a change in American politics - a decline of the fraternal "old-boy system" and the rise of the politics of ideology. He readily acknowledged he never made the adjustment.
In 1980, he took a break from politics to cover the murderous exploits of Bundy, who eventually was executed in Florida after being linked to a series of slayings of women across the country. Mr. Larsen wrote a book about the case, "The Deliberate Stranger," which became a made-for-TV movie.
Later, he spent eight years writing editorials and a regular column for The Times' editorial page.
After he took early retirement in 1992, Mr. Larsen once again surprised the political world by going to work as an adviser to Republican U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn. By working for Democrat Foley and Republican Dunn in the same career, the veteran journalist demonstrated his political equilibrium.
"I can't tell you how much I learned from Dick," Dunn said. "He was a big-picture person, a positive influence on everyone. When I got sidetracked by some petty politics, he would pull me back on track."
In recent years, Mr. Larsen had struggled with cancer and other ailments while spending more time at home, where he enjoyed golf, gardening and music.
He approached death with much the same grace that he lived his life. Recently, he recalled covering a forest fire for The Wenatchee World. He had arranged to fly with an airplane full of smoke jumpers but at the last minute was told there was no room for him. A short time later, the plane crashed, killing all aboard.
"I've been living on borrowed time," he said.
Survivors include his wife, Virginia; daughters, Sue Knight of East Wenatchee and Becky Beasley of Covington; sons, Kurt of Spokane and Grant of Port Orchard; stepdaughter, Nedra Mires of Waterville, Douglas County; stepson, Paul Cordell of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and four grandchildren.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Green's Funeral Home, 1215 145th Place S.E., Bellevue.
The family suggests remembrances to the Richard Larsen Scholarship Fund, care of the Washington News Council, P.O. Box 3672, Seattle, WA 98124.