Obituary | George Sundborg, reporter, editor

In the mid-1940s, when Alaska residents battled for statehood, newspaper editor George Sundborg penned a call to arms: "There are always 'good sound men' about to point out a reason why this is not the time to take a forward step. If their cautious counsels had prevailed, men would still be wearing the skins of animals and huddling in caves."

Mr. Sundborg was never one to stand still.

From his hardscrabble days as a Washington and Alaska journalist — a bespectacled wordsmith who weighed every comma — he dived into politics, helped write the Alaska State Constitution and ushered the frontier territory into statehood.

On Saturday night, Mr. Sundborg, 95, the father of five children, died at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. He succumbed to pneumonia caused by complications from a fall.

He wrote his own obituary, a terse two-paragraph outline of jobs and family ties — no flourishes, just the unadorned facts.

"He would always say, 'Son, what you need is a good copy editor,' said son Stephen Sundborg, president of Seattle University. "He'd say to boil it down."

Born in San Francisco in 1913, George Sundborg moved to Seattle in 1923. He was active in the Boy Scouts and developed a lifelong passion for climbing and the outdoors. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1934, then chronicled the world as a reporter for a variety of newspapers, first from Grays Harbor and later as an editor of his own Alaska paper, the Juneau Independent.

Mr. Sundborg was one of the primary authors of the Alaska constitution, which was drafted in 1955 and 1956. He left newspapers to become an administrative assistant to U.S. Sen. Ernest Gruening, D-Alaska.

In 1971, he moved back to Washington state and later received an award from the U.S. Department of Interior for assistance in transferring land at Fort Lawton to the city of Seattle to create Discovery Park.

From his Magnolia home, he wrote for magazines and other publications; volunteered at Seattle Children's hospital; supported many charities and food banks; and was president of the Magnolia Bluffers, a seniors group.

With his wife, Mary, he also established a law-school endowment at Seattle University for residents from Alaska, which does not have a law school.

His widely acclaimed call to arms was republished by many newspapers in the 1940s. He noted that "excursions into history sometimes serve to illuminate the perplexing problems of a later day."

But he often marveled at his own place in history, which is now preserved in Alaska historical archives and on the Internet. The University of Alaska awarded him an honorary doctorate for his role in achieving statehood.

He is predeceased by his wife of 68 years, Mary Frances Baker, in 2006, and by granddaughter Lynn in 2007. Besides his son Stephen, he is survived by sons Pierre (wife Jean), of Seattle, and George Jr. (Lisa), of Fairbanks; daughters Dr. Rosemary Hunter (Eugene McGuire), of Albuquerque, N.M., and Dr. Sarah Long (Dr. William), of Gladwyne, Pa.; 13 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said on Saturday, at 8 a.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Seattle. He will be buried next to his wife at Fern Hill Cemetery in Aberdeen.

Michael J. Berens: 206-464-2288 or mberens@seattletimes.com