Ex-Gov. Rosellini dies at 101

OLYMPIA – Former Washington Gov. Albert Rosellini, a son of Italian immigrants who became the oldest living former governor in America, died Monday. He was 101.

A Democrat who always wore a rosebud on his lapel, Rosellini served as governor for eight years ending in 1965. His tenure in office was defined by efforts to reform state prisons and modernize mental health institutions while shepherding through the creation of the 520 floating bridge that now bears his name.

Rosellini’s daughter, Lynn, recalled how he was able to connect with voters so quickly because of his ability to identify with average people and his interest in their concerns.

“He always said if he shook somebody’s hand it was a vote,” Lynn Rosellini said. “He would look at you like there was nobody else in the room.”

The family said Rosellini’s health had declined in recent weeks because of pneumonia. He died at a retirement community in Seattle.

Albert Dean Rosellini was born in Tacoma in 1910 and developed his characteristic work ethic as a child. He remembered selling newspapers at age 9 while also doing odd jobs for a woman for a penny a day.

He was a boxer in college and took three jobs to put himself through school, working as a butcher in Pike Place Market, working on an Alaska steamer and law clerking.

In 1927, his father and a friend were arrested and charged with trying to smuggle drugs out of Mexico, according to a 1997 biography by Payton Smith. Gov. Rosellini reflected to Smith years later that his father’s arrest in the home, the sensational headlines and visiting his father in federal prison made an indelible impression on him and motivated him to enter law school.

King County Prosecutor Warren G. Magnuson hired Rosellini out of law school.

Rosellini met his wife, Ethel, when he was a young attorney defending a literary agent on trial for grand larceny. They wed in 1937, and were married for 64 years. She died in 2002.

In 1938, when he was 28 years old, Rosellini was elected to the state Senate and served for 18 years. He championed the creation of the medical and dental schools at the University of Washington, but later said he lost his seat in part because of his Italian and Catholic heritage.

“Friends said, you are well qualified but with your name and your religion you’ll never make it in the state,” he recalled 10 years ago.

Rosellini went on to serve as governor from 1957 until 1965 before losing to Republican Gov. Dan Evans.

In 1972, Rosellini made another run for governor, winning the Democratic primary but losing to Evans in the general election.

Rosellini was friends with Seattle strip club magnate Frank Colacurcio Sr. and represented the fellow Italian-American during his early years as an attorney.

Colacurcio was later implicated in a 2003 campaign finance conspiracy relating to donations made to three City Council members, at a time he was seeking to expand a strip club parking lot. Rosellini helped deliver several of the campaign contributions, but was not charged.