Kermit Osmond HANSON, Ph.D

HANSON, BORGE, HAUGEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/28/2010 at 14:08:53

May 14, 1916 -- October 7, 2010

Kermit Osmond Hanson died of natural causes October 7, 2010 at the age of 94. He was born May 14, 1916, in the small farming community of Troy Township, Wright County, Iowa, to Gerhard and Sunniva Borge Hanson, the third of four children. Gerhard was a farmer on the land owned by his father, Halvor, with whom they lived. After graduating high school, Kermit stayed on the farm for a year until a small scholarship from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and a job in the campus library enabled him to further his education. The position also enabled him to meet and court his future wife, Jane Elizabeth Haugen. He majored in Economics, History, and Business and graduated college in 1938. He went to Iowa State University on full scholarship, attaining his Masters Degree in Economics two years later, and took a job with the Works Progress Administration in Des Moines.

He and Jane were wed in 1940 in Decorah and spent their honeymoon in Waterloo, Iowa. The following year he went to work for the Federal Land Bank in Omaha, Nebraska. He volunteered for the Navy in 1943, but failed the eye test. He volunteered again, but was rejected for being too thin. Finally, a doctor's letter got him admitted, and he served in the Supply Core on the escort carrier Anzio in the Pacific Theatre from 1943 to 1945. Discharged in 1945, Lt. Hanson was persuaded by his wife, who had been living with her parents and infant son during the war in Bellingham, WA, to settle in Seattle, WA. During a courtesy visit to the University of Washington, he was offered a position in Economics which he declined, opting instead for a position with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and shortly thereafter, with the Veterans Administration as a statistician. After persistent pursuit by Business and Economics Dean, Howard Preston, Hanson joined the UW faculty in January of 1948. He earned a Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1952. He became Chairman of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Statistics in 1955, Associate Dean of the School of Business Administration in 1959, and its Dean in 1964. At that time, the School was comprised of an undergraduate program, the College of Business Administration, and a graduate program. Neither were prestigious. Freshman could simply opt to be enrolled in the College, and Business was viewed as a refuge for weaker students. Hanson worked to raise the quality of both programs. With characteristic vision and perseverance, he had the two programs separated when the Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Graduate School of Business Administration, effective in September 1965. In 1966 the undergraduate major was changed from four to two years with students competing to enter the program in their junior year. Only the better ones were admitted. By emphasizing research and educational opportunities for the faculty, Hanson raised the quality of the Graduate School of Business Administration to that comparable to the other professional schools on campus: Law and Medicine.

Of his many achievements, one with which he was particularly pleased was the creation, in 1977, of the Pacific Rim Bankers Program. Now more than 30 years later, the program has over 2000 graduates, many of whom influence the world economy as key financial executives around the globe. The Journey for Perspective was another innovative program nurtured by Hanson in which a small group of graduate students and a faculty adviser traveled to European or Asian countries and discussed important issues of the times with their economic and political leaders. In addition to his deep involvement with the Pacific Rim Bankers Program, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast Banking School. After an unprecedented seventeen years as Dean, he retired in 1981. Outside of the University of Washington, his expertise was tapped by the Boards of the Leckenby Company, Safeco Corporation, Washington Federal, Rimroc Corporation, and Pacific Horizon Funds. In addition to professional responsibilities, Kermit took on positions of leadership in his community serving as President of the Chief Seattle Council for the Boy Scouts of America, two terms as President of the First Lutheran Church of Richmond Beach, President of the Board of Horizon House and an active member of Seattle Rotary.

Kermit's wife, Jane, died in January 2010. They were married for 69 years and were blessed with four children, James Stephen (1943), Katherine Jane (1946), Paul Richard (1952) and Daniel Gerhard (1954). He will be remembered as a loving father and husband, a caring mentor of young faculty, an admired Dean, and an important shaper of the economy of the Puget Sound. Funeral services will be held at 12:00 noon, October 30, at First Lutheran Church in Shoreline, WA.
Remembrances may be sent to the Compass Center, 77 S. Washington St., Seattle 98104; to First Lutheran Church, 18354 8th Ave. NW, Shoreline; or to the Foster School of Business, University of Washington.

The Herald --Everett, Washington
October 20, 2010

Seattle Times -- Seattle, Washington
October 24, 2010