Wikipedia

Morris Thompson

For the bishop, seeMorris King Thompson.

Morris "Morrie" Thompson(September 11, 1939 – January 31, 2000) was anAlaska Nativeleader,Americanbusinessman and political appointee working on matters related to Alaska Natives.[1]Thompson was best known as the official in charge of theBureau of Indian Affairsfor the U.S. state of Alaska during the 1970s, and later as head ofDoyon, Limited,theAlaska Native Regional CorporationforInterior Alaska.Following his retirement from Doyon, while returning to Alaska from vacationing in Mexico, Thompson died, along with his wife and one of his three daughters, in the crash ofAlaska Airlines Flight 261.

Morris Thompson
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
In office
1973–1976
PresidentRichard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Preceded byLouis R. Bruce Jr.
Succeeded byBen Reifel(interim)
Personal details
Born(1939-09-11)September 11, 1939
Tanana,Territory of Alaska,United States
DiedJanuary 31, 2000(2000-01-31)(aged 60)
Alaska Airlines Flight 261,Pacific Ocean
SpouseThelma Thompson (1963–2000)
ChildrenSheryl (daughter), Nicole Thompson (daughter)

Early life and career

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Thompson was born on September 11, 1939, inTanana,Alaska,[2][3][4]the son of Warren H. Thompson, awhite Americanoriginally fromIndiana,and his wife Alice (née Grant), aKoyukonAthabaskan.Thompson graduated fromMt. Edgecumbe High Schoolin Sitka and attended theUniversity of Alaska Fairbanksas a civil engineering major. "Morrie" married Thelma Mayo ofRamparton October 5, 1963 in Tanana,[2]then obtained a job atRCA's Gilmore Creek Satellite Tracking Station near Fairbanks in 1964 after attending an RCA electrical technician school in Los Angeles, California.[5]

In 1966, Thompson metWalter Hickel,an Anchorage businessman who was running for governor at the time; Morris volunteered to work on Hickel's campaign in Fairbanks and the Interior. As a result, Thompson became Governor Hickel's deputy director of the Rural Development Agency. The next year as executive director of Hickel's North Commission, Thompson began working on a network of transportation routes to open rural Alaska to development.[5]

WhenPresident Nixonnamed Hickel to serve asSecretary of the Interiorin 1969, Thompson went to Washington, D.C., as special assistant for theBureau of Indian Affairs.In 1970, young Thompson became the Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Director in Juneau. In both Interior jobs, Thompson was deeply involved in theAlaska Native Claims Settlement Actadopted in December 1971. Thompson served as the youngest Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at 34 years of age.[citation needed]

In 1981, Thompson went to work forDoyon, Limited,his ANCSA Regional Corporation. Originally hired as a Vice-President, he became Doyon's President and Chief Officer in 1985, when Doyon Ltd. had an operating loss of $28 million. When he retired in 2000, Doyon was generating $70.9 million in annual revenues, had 900 employees and 14,000 shareholders. Morris Thompson was widely recognized in Alaska as a Native American leader.[6]

Death

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At 60 years of age, a resident ofFairbanks,[7]Thompson retired as the President of Doyon. To celebrate his retirement, he went on vacation with his wife Thelma and his daughter Sheryl toMexico.He died with his wife and daughter in the crash ofAlaska Airlines Flight 261on January 31, 2000, while flying back to the United States.[7][8][9]

Thompson's body was buried in Tanana.[10]

Advance fee fraud(419, Nigerian scam) con men used Thompson's name in various scams unrelated to Thompson.[11]TheAlaska Federation of Nativesaltered one of its web pages to warn e-mail users about the scheme.[1][11][12]

Legacy

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The Morris Thompson Center.

The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center, located at 101 Dunkel Street in downtown Fairbanks and dedicated on August 12, 2008, is named after Thompson.[10]

Prior to this, theUniversity of Alaska Fairbankshad moved its southern access a half-mile to the west, citing problems with the bridge over theAlaska Railroadon the existing access road. The new access road was named Thompson Drive in his honor. Thompson had served on the University of Alaska Board of Regents from 1989 to 1993.[13]

The Morris Thompson Golf Classic is an annual fundraiser established and hosted by Doyon Foundation. It honors the memory of the late Morris Thompson while raising money for the memorial scholarship fund in his name. Since inception, the event has funded 209 scholarships totaling $515,180.[14]

References

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  1. ^ab"Morris Thompson: Alaska business and Native leader used personable style for success."Associated PressatSeattle Post-Intelligencer.February 2, 2000. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
  2. ^abAtwood, Evangeline;DeArmond, Robert N.(1977).Who's Who in Alaskan Politics.Portland:Binford & Mortfor the Alaska Historical Commission. p. 99.
  3. ^"Victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 remembered."Seattle Times.Wednesday February 2, 2000. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
  4. ^"Morris ThompsonArchived2007-12-25 at theWayback Machine."Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center
  5. ^abAlaska Business Monthly.May 1, 1995.
  6. ^""Morris Thompson"".Archived from the original on April 27, 2003.Retrieved2008-02-28.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).Alaska Federation of Natives.April 27, 2003. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
  7. ^ab""Names of those aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261"".Archived from the original on January 5, 2008.Retrieved2008-07-15.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).CNN.Retrieved on April 29, 2009.
  8. ^Brook, Jack, Lisa Pemberton-Butler, Ian Ith, Chris Solomon, Mark Rahner, Stuart Eskenazi, Steve Miletich, Eric Sorensen, etc. "Passengers of Flight 261 remembered."The Seattle Times.February 1, 2000. Retrieved on May 2, 2009.
  9. ^Verhovek, Sam Howe. "Fate Leads An Airline To Grieve For Itself."The New York Times.February 2, 2000. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
  10. ^ab"Morris ThompsonArchived2007-12-25 at theWayback Machine."Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.Accessed September 9, 2008.
  11. ^ab"Nigerian Advance Fee Scam Customized for Alaska: Morris Thompson variation could be taste of ploys to come."State of Alaska Department of Law.December 13, 2005. Retrieved on February 23, 2009.
  12. ^""Email Scam"".Archived from the original on November 24, 2005.Retrieved2008-02-28.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).Alaska Federation of Natives.
  13. ^Historical listing of UA RegentsArchived2009-12-11 at theWayback MachineRetrieved on December 14, 2009
  14. ^"Doyon Foundation".www.doyonfoundation.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2020-08-10.Retrieved2020-09-02.
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