Sam Hunt (’67 English), a statewide civic leader, longtime legislator, and member of the Washington State University Board of Regents, died April 26, 2026, of complications from leukemia. He was 83.
Hunt devoted more than five decades to state and national public service, education, and civic leadership.
After retiring from the Washington legislature in 2024, he was appointed to the WSU Board of Regents, a position his family described as a dream come true for him. Hunt’s Senate office had included a six-foot rug emblazoned with the WSU logo. On his last day in the legislature, he was presented with a custom WSU jersey imprinted with his legislative district.
“Regent Hunt spent a lifetime strengthening the very systems that make Washington State University’s land-grant mission possible, from championing public education in Olympia with our students to shaping the policies and investments that sustain our work,” says WSU President Betsy Cantwell. “We have established the Sam Hunt Memorial Scholarship to honor the incredible legacy he leaves.”
Sam grew up in Seattle and Yakima. After graduating from WSU, he taught at Pasco High School, was elected to the Pasco City Council, and worked for the Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction. He later moved to Washington, DC, to work with the US Senate Appropriations Committee.
In 1981, he returned to Olympia to work in numerous state government positions and as a teacher in the Montesano School District. He was elected to the Washington state House of Representatives in 2000, then the state Senate in 2016. In 2015, then-Rep. Hunt was honored with the inaugural Gabrielle Giffords Award for Civility in State Government.
Sam’s wife, Charlene, preceded him in death, in 2017. He is survived by children Hillary and Nathan, daughter-in-law Amanda, grandson Rory, all of Olympia, and his loving companion Roberta Stanley of East Lansing, Michigan.