Philanthropist, Timber Magnate Dies

Prentice Bloedel, a founder of the Canadian timber giant MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. and a philanthropist whose contributions helped shape Seattle, has died at his Capitol Hill home.

Bloedel was 95. The cause of his death in his sleep Saturday was not known, but he had recently suffered pneumonia, said his daughter, Virginia Wright.

Bloedel was born in Bellingham in 1900, within sight of his father’s lumber mill on Lake Whatcom. He graduated from Yale University, married Virginia Merrill from another local timber family and settled down to run his father’s company.

He effectively retired in 1951, when the company merged with H.R. MacMillan, a large forest-products company, and became MacMillan Bloedel of Vancouver, British Columbia, a major supplier of newsprint, paper and lumber to the United States.

He and his wife moved to Bainbridge Island, just west of Seattle, and began gardening around their French country house. The grounds evolved into the 150-acre Bloedel Reserve, which opened to the public in 1988.

In addition to creating the Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver, Bloedel contributed to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, the Seattle Art Museum and the University of Washington, where his generosity helped create the Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum.