Wealthy Washingtonian Norton Clapp Dies

Norton Clapp, a former Weyerhaeuser Co. board chairman and one of Washington’s wealthiest citizens, has died at his home after a long illness.

Clapp, 89, died Saturday in this wealthy enclave on the east shore of Lake Washington.

A longtime contributor to Republican political campaigns, Clapp’s best-known political association was with his stepson, former Gov. Booth Gardner, a Democrat who served from 1985-1993.

Clapp’s fortune was estimated at $450 million by Forbes magazine, making him one of the richest Americans.

He was one of a group of industrialists who helped build the Space Needle for the 1962 World’s Fair. He also was a founder of the charitable Medina Foundation.

Clapp was associated with the Laird Norton Co., which owns Lumberman’s lumber and hardware stores, and the Matthew G. Norton Co., whose properties include the Norton Building in downtown Seattle, The Seattle Times reported.

He joined Weyerhaeuser in 1938 and became a board member in 1946. He served as board chairman from 1959-60 and 1966-76, as president from 1960-66, and in several other top executive positions before his retirement in 1976.

Clapp also was president of Boise Payette Lumber Co., which became Boise Cascade.

Born in Pasadena, Calif., in 1906, Clapp graduated from Occidental College and earned a law degree at the University of Chicago. He practiced law in Tacoma from 1929 until 1942, and served in the Navy from 1942 to 1946.

He is survived by his wife, Jacqueline; three children, Matthew, Bill and Steven Clapp; Gardner and three other step-children, Linda Henry, Arthur William Henry and Michela MacLeod; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, said his son, Bill Clapp.

“He was a great guy and we’re going to miss him,” Clapp said.

A public memorial service was scheduled May 6 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina.