William D. Robertson, Jr. – 50th Reunion Essay

William D. Robertson, Jr.

Date of Death: 22-Jul-1997

College: Trumbull

(The October 1998 Class Notes reported that Bill Robertson died after a four-year bout with lung cancer.)

From Jerry Schnitt: Bill attended Yale for only one year. Having been an all-state basketball, football, and baseball player in Oregon, he tried out for football in the fall (beat out at quarterback by Brian D.). Freshman basketball, he left at six weeks; he hated the coach and quit the team. He didn’t try out for baseball in the spring.

He had sufficient character to confront a group of guys that were making fun of a rather eccentric classmate. Told them that it wasn’t right. They actually listened to him.

From Rob Schlacter: Bill, from Portland, Oregon, was a roommate of Brad Gascoigne, Jerry Schnitt, and me. Bill was a great athlete (in his junior year in high school, his team won the state basketball title), quiet, and unfortunately a smoker.

At Yale, he was also homesick. He had a serious girlfriend from Portland who attended Oregon State. During the summer of 1966, when he was back in Portland for the summer, his girlfriend Claudia became pregnant. They soon married, and Bill dropped out of Yale and went to Lewis & Clark College during the day and worked as a newspaper sports reporter after school and the evenings/weekends. Somehow, he was able to support his family and go to school all at the same time.

Claudia and Bill grew their family into three kids (two boys, then a girl). All were tall like their parents and tremendous athletes (both sons played college basketball and the daughter was a top track athlete and volleyball player in college).

After college, Bill worked full time for the main Oregon newspaper and eventually became the top political writer. As a result, for a period of time, he and his family moved to DC where he covered the Oregon congressmen (some of whom, including Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood, had a lot of national clout). Our paths crossed during this period (1971–74) when I went to law school at Georgetown in DC.

Bill and his young family moved back to Portland where he became a top aide to the governor of Oregon. He remained involved in lobbying and in political consulting for the rest of his life. He was very successful and respected in the state.

Bill encouraged my family and me to move to Oregon from LA (where I had been since 1975), and we in fact moved in 1991. We would see each other from time to time once we moved back and even attended some of his sons’ college basketball games together.

Unfortunately, Bill developed lung cancer in his 40s and fought the disease for many years. The disease finally won the battle, and Bill died in 1997.

Among his outstanding accomplishments was spearheading Tri-Met (the regional transportation system) and being the moving force behind envisioning, planning, and building a light rail in Portland. His accomplishments are acknowledged by Tri-Met and the city naming the key tunnel that is part of the system (under the Washington Zoo) the Robertson Tunnel. A bronze relief of his face accompanies a plaque there.

(This memorial was found on a website associated with Portland, OR.)

At 260 feet below the surface you’ll find the platform for the Washington Park Tri-Met Station. This is the only station in the Robertson Tunnel that runs under the West Hills. The tunnel is named in honor of William D. Robertson, Jr., who was the president of Tri-Met at the time of his death.

The plaque reads:

The capacity to think,

The courage to act,

The conscience to care.

Presented by the Tri-Met Board of Directors in grateful appreciation of

WILLIAM D. ROBERTSON, JR.

1947–1997

Tri-Met Board of Directors 1986–1993

President, 1993–1995