Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ecology Official Collapses, Dies Terry Husseman, Deputy Director, Was Giving Water Issues Presentation To Governor’s Staff

Associated Press

Terry Husseman, the No. 2 official at the state Department of Ecology, collapsed while giving a presentation to the governor’s staff and died Tuesday evening. He was 57.

Husseman, deputy director of the agency, was “in the middle of a presentation” on water issues when he collapsed in the office of Joe Dear, the governor’s chief of staff, said Ecology Department spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison.

State Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons, who was in the room, administered CPR, as did Fred Stephens, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, a State Patrol officer and paramedics, but Husseman could not be revived.

He apparently suffered a heart attack.

Gov. Gary Locke’s senior staff members were present.

Husseman had worked at Ecology since 1986 and became deputy director in March 1993.

“He worked tirelessly to develop solutions to some of the most difficult environmental issues in the state,” Fitzsimmons said in a formal statement. “He was one of the state’s greatest environmental resources.”

“He worked with so many of us in Olympia and we will miss him greatly,” said Locke, who served in the Legislature for 11 years before he was elected governor.

“His expertise in environmental issues was an incredible asset to every administration he served. Both Democrats and Republicans had the utmost respect for him,” Locke said.

“Terry was one of those people who was quiet and calm and brought such expertise on environmental issues. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say he was probably involved in every significant environmental accomplishment in this state in this last decade,” Hutchison said.

Prior to joining Ecology, Husseman was a lobbyist with the Washington Public Utilities District Association. He also spent several years as a state Senate committee staffer on energy issues.

Husseman was a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law.

He is survived by his wife Marcia and two grown sons, Mike and Josh.