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Jack B. Olson

American politician (1920–2003)

Field	Value
name	Jack Olson
image	Jack B. Olson.png
office1	3rd United States Ambassador to the Bahamas
term_start1	December 22, 1976
term_end1	April 30, 1977
predecessor1	Seymour Weiss
successor1	William Bernstein Schwartz Jr.
president1	Gerald Ford
office2	35th and 37th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
term_start2	January 2, 1967
term_end2	January 4, 1971
governor2	Warren P. Knowles
predecessor2	Patrick Lucey
successor2	Martin J. Schreiber
term_start3	January 7, 1963
term_end3	January 4, 1965
governor4	John W. Reynolds Jr.
predecessor4	Warren P. Knowles
successor4	Patrick Lucey
birth_date	August 29, 1920
birth_place	Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, U.S.
party	Republican

Jack Benjamin Olson (August 29, 1920 – July 3, 2003) was an American businessman, diplomat, politician, and Republican from the U.S. state of Wisconsin.

Early life

Olson was born in Kilbourn (now Wisconsin Dells) in Columbia County, Wisconsin on August 29, 1920, to Jane Zimmerman Olson and Grover Olson. He graduated from Wisconsin Dells High School and attended Western Michigan University. Olson married Eleanor Lang of Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 7, 1942; he graduated from Western Michigan University the same year with a Bachelor of Science degree. He joined the U.S. Navy after graduating and became a PT boat commander, serving in the North Atlantic Ocean during World War II. He became a Lieutenant Junior Grade.

Upon returning home, Olson owned and operated Dells Boat Tours and Amphibious Duck rides, serving as president of his family's boat company. He was active in the tourism industry, promoting Wisconsin Dells as a resort town. He was a president of the Wisconsin Vacationland Council.

Political career

Olson was a Wisconsin delegate to the 1960, 1964, and 1968 National Republican Conventions, and served as state chairman for the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon. During this time he was also the director of the economic development project for the University of Hawaiʻi. Olson served as the 35th and 37th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, from 1963 to 1965 and from 1967 to 1971. He was the director and official representative on the first Trade Mission to Europe and Vice Chairman of Wisconsin's Outdoor Resources Action Program 200 program.

Olson ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin in 1970. Nixon appointed him to the Air Quality Advisory Board; Gerald Ford later appointed him United States Ambassador to the Bahamas (1976–1977) and to the Citizens' Committee on Environmental Quality and the Committee for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Olson won Western Michigan University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1966.

He died at age 82 on July 3, 2003, at his home in Wisconsin Dells following a long illness.

References

''Wisconsin Blue Book 1970,'' Biographical Sketch of Jack B. Olson, page 4.
(July 5, 2003). "Civic Leader, Ex-State Official Jack Olson Dies at 82". Madison Capital Times.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1920-births 2003-deaths 20th-century-american-politicians 20th-century-american-businesspeople people-from-wisconsin-dells,-wisconsin lieutenant-governors-of-wisconsin ambassadors-of-the-united-states-to-the-bahamas western-michigan-university-alumni businesspeople-from-wisconsin wisconsin-republicans military-personnel-from-wisconsin united-states-navy-personnel-of-world-war-ii united-states-navy-officers

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