Alaska Constitution drafter dies

A man who helped craft the Alaska Constitution nearly 60 years ago has died. George Sundborg Sr. was 95.

He died Saturday from pneumonia at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, his son said.

Sundborg was so proud of his work helping draft Alaska's state constitution that he was willing to risk his eyesight to attend a golden anniversary celebration of statehood last month.

As one of four remaining delegates to the 1955 Alaska Constitutional Convention, Sundborg was invited to a 50th anniversary dinner in Anchorage. He was hell bent on going even after he suffered a detached retina in a fall and a doctor said he could lose the eye if he delayed the operation.

"He told the doctor, "I've got two eyes,'" said his son, George Sundborg Jr., but his children eventually talked him out of going.

"He always said (the convention) was the greatest event of his life next to the birth of his children," Sundborg said.

The Alaska House and Senate paused for a moment of silence Monday in his honor and Gov. Sarah Palin has ordered state flags lowered on Saturday (Feb. 14), the day of his memorial service in Seattle.

"Alaska has lost a true visionary and respected leader," Palin said. "We will be forever grateful for Mr. Sundborg's guidance in creating a document that is regarded as one of the finest constitutions in the United States."

Sundborg was one of 55 delegates who gathered for 75 days in the basement of the University of Alaska Fairbanks student union in 1955 to craft a constitution for Alaska.

Alaskans had been battling for statehood rights for decades, and some believed a constitution would signal Congress that they were ready to take up their own governance.

The delegates came from all walks of life and Sundborg, a bespectacled former newspaperman, was put in charge of the Committee on Style and Drafting.

Sundborg's colleague, former Lt. Gov. Jack Coghill, said the task was making sure the document was written correctly and that it said what crafters intended.

"His first purpose was to make sure that with all our miners and trappers in the convention that their intent was written into proper language," Coghill said.

Another delegate, former state Sen. Vic Fisher, said Sundborg's role was influential.

"He was one of the most active and constructive of the 55 delegates," Fisher said. "He played a key role in making the constitution what it is today in terms of the style, the precise language, the concise statements and the structure."

Friends and colleagues remember Sundborg as a dignified and scholarly man of few words.

His son, George, said his father's advice on writing was always to "boil it down."

"He wanted to make things understandable but not at great length," Sundborg said.

The elder Sundborg wrote his own two-paragraph obituary several years ago with instructions to "update with any interesting circumstances, e.g. died in plane crash in Arizona."

Sundborg moved to Alaska from Seattle as a news reporter and served as editor of the Daily Alaska Empire in Juneau and the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. He was also the administrative assistant for U.S. Sen. Ernest Gruening, D-Alaska, after Gruening and Bob Bartlett were elected the new state's first U.S. senators in 1959.

Following Gruening's defeat in 1969, Sundborg worked at the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C., and returned to Seattle in 1971 where he was awarded a Department of Interior commendation for assistance in the formation of Discovery Park.

The remaining constitutional delegates are Coghill, Fischer and Seaborn Buckalew Jr.

Sundborg is survived by five children, including the Rev. Stephen Sundborg, president of Seattle University.