Longtime Lawmaker Dies At 81

Fri., Aug. 9, 1996

Associated Press

Leon Swenson, who served 18 years in the Idaho Legislature before retiring, has died at the age of 84.

Swenson died at home Wednesday of complications from a heart attack. Funeral services will be in Nampa on Monday.

Swenson grew up in Spanish Fork, Utah, as a farm boy. He attended what is now Utah State University and graduated with a degree in agriculture.

He taught high school agriculture in Utah before going to work with Amalgamated Sugar Co. He transferred to Nampa with Amalgamated and later went into farming.

He was first elected to the Idaho House from Canyon County in 1964 and served two terms. He was elected to the Senate in 1968 and served seven terms ending in 1982. He was chairman of the Agriculture Committee and in his final years in the Senate Swenson was chairman of the powerful State Affairs Committee.

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Longtime Lawmaker Dies At 81

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