Longtime Chamber Spokesman Dies

C. Michael Archer, an arts booster and longtime spokesman for the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, died at home Tuesday.

His chamber responsibilities were so broad that President Rich Hadley simply called him the “director of special projects.”

Mr. Archer, 51, also was known for his staged poetry readings, performances at which he recited his own works and those of such famous writers as Edgar Allen Poe.

He was a devotee of Poe, an expert on Civil War history and a champion for increased attention to the arts.

He was a bit of a contradiction - a onetime shaggy-haired poet and self-described romantic who became the chamber’s communications manager, crunching the group’s survey numbers and serving as its liaison to the military community. He blended the two by talking about the poetic justice of the free enterprise system.

Originally from Los Angeles, Mr. Archer first came to Spokane in 1967 as an Air Force cryptographer and returned in the early 1970s after leaving the military.

As the owner of a downtown bookstore called Volume II, he cofounded a poetry group, staged performances of music and poetry and served on the city’s Arts Commission. He published more than a dozen books of his own poetry and edited several others.

“Spokane is not exactly a poetry capital,” said longtime friend Bill Burke. “But that made it a little more enjoyable for Michael.”

Burke often put together bands to play at Poe birthday parties, at which chamber executives would mingle with members of the arts community.

“They were really weird and really fun, because Michael had a great collection of friends,” Burke said.

Mr. Archer was acting director of the Spokane Arts Commission in the late 1970s, He took the public relations job with the chamber, hoping to turn his way with words into a marketable commodity.

He was also a prolific contributor to The Spokesman-Review’s letters page, exhorting the community and the newspaper to support the arts, respect the military and honor traditions.

He worked on downtown redevelopment, sports promotion, the Lilac Festival, visitor information and relocation, military affairs, the Small Business Council and publications, Hadley said. This month, he planned to launch a new version of the chamber newsletter.

“When you think about his 16 years at the chamber, he pretty much did everything,” said Hadley, who waved goodbye to Mr. Archer Monday evening as he left the downtown office, in his trademark coat and cap, to take a final bus ride home.

News of Mr. Archer’s death “felt like a fist in the stomach,” Hadley said.

Mr. Archer died in his sleep of as-yet undetermined natural causes. He is survived by his wife, Mary, and two daughters, Cybil, at home, and Sabrina, in Lynnwood, Wash.; a sister, two brothers and two grandsons. Services are pending at Ball and Dodd Funeral Home.

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