Many accomplished and beloved Oregonians died in 2025 — including some well known names, from political leaders to artists to former NBA stars.
They will be missed, but they won’t truly be gone, for, as the late author Terry Pratchett put it: “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.”
Below we flash through the lives of some of the recently departed whose actions will continue to ripple in Oregon and beyond.
A member of the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon state Rep. Hòa Nguyễn, Democrat of District 48, on Jan. 9, 2023.Dave Killen / The Oregonian
POLITICS
Hòa Nguyễn, 41
Born in New Orleans to Vietnamese refugees, Nguyễn and her family moved to Oregon when Nguyễn was 16. After attending Portland State University, she worked for Portland Public Schools, striving to end chronic student absenteeism. Then, in 2021, she joined the David Douglas School Board. A year later, the Democrat won election to the Oregon House of Representatives. In the Legislature, she focused on making child care more affordable and local schools better. Noted state Rep. Annessa Hartman: “She led with wisdom, grace and an unwavering commitment to lifting others as she rose.” Nguyễn died of cancer.
Aaron Woods, 75
The Chicago-raised Army veteran moved to Oregon to work for pioneering local high-tech company Tektronix before jumping to Xerox, where he rose to a senior director position. In 2022, the Wilsonville Democrat won a seat in the Oregon Senate, where he zeroed in on technology and veterans issues. “In a building that too often highlights division, he stood out as someone who led with compassion, listened with humility and treated everyone with respect,” Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham said of Woods.
Dan Handelman, 60
Raised in Scarsdale, New York, Handelman graduated from Wesleyan University and headed west to work in regional theater. But, always politically attuned, his life took a turn in Portland, where he became the city’s most prominent police accountability activist. He co-founded Portland Copwatch, which documented police shootings and deaths in custody, and regularly spoke at City Council meetings. Said Barb Greene, his longtime partner: “All Dan would have wanted out of life is to know that some people were safer on the street because of him.”
Ira “Ike” Schab, 105
Schab, who lived in Beaverton, was on board the USS Dobbin when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was one of the last dozen or so survivors of the surprise attack that pushed the U.S. to enter WWII.
Pudgy Hunt
Pudgy Hunt (The Oregonian)LC- THE OREGONIAN
SPORTS
Stan Love, 76
The 6’9” basketball player starred for the University of Oregon – he was the program’s all-time leading scorer for a time – and went on to play in the NBA for four seasons. He then toured with the Beach Boys, serving in various roles, including bodyguard for his brother Mike, the band’s frontman, and caretaker for the band’s troubled guiding creative force, his cousin Brian Wilson. He was the father of NBA star Kevin Love.
Robert “Pudgy” Hunt, 86
While growing up in Svensen, a small town near Astoria, Hunt worked as a lumberjack and a fisherman. But he was at his best with a ball in his hands. A basketball star at Knappa High School, he scored more points than any prep player ever had in Oregon – a record he held for 50 years. He went on to play at the University of Oregon and Gonzaga University. For years he and his wife, Connie, owned the popular East Bank Saloon in Portland – after he spent time as a flooring contractor, sometimes working with Robert Rackstraw, a Vietnam War vet and con man who many true-crime enthusiasts believe was the infamous skyjacker known as D.B. Cooper.
Lenny Wilkens, 88
The basketball Hall of Famer made an indelible mark on the NBA as both a player and a coach. A 6-foot guard out of Providence College, he was a 9-time All-Star as a player over 15 seasons that included a stint with the Portland Trail Blazers. He was the head coach of the Seattle Supersonics team that won the NBA championship in 1979. He also served as an assistant coach of the 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball squad, widely known as the “Dream Team.” A bronze statue of Wilkens stands in downtown Seattle, celebrating his accomplishments in that city.
Bill Dellinger, 91
Born in Grants Pass and a high-school classmate of author Ken Kesey in Springfield, Dellinger attended the University of Oregon, where he won two NCAA individual track championships for Bill Bowerman’s squad. He went on to set two world indoor records – as well as score a bronze medal in the 5,000 meters at the 1964 Olympics. He then turned to coaching, becoming UO’s men’s cross-country coach in 1969 and the men’s head track coach four years later. His teams won multiple NCAA championships, and he shepherded many collegiate track stars during his coaching career, including the legendary Steve Prefontaine.
The crew that helped start Higgins in 1994, including co-owners Paul Mallory (seared atop banquette at center left) and chef and co-owner Greg Higgins (seated in chair at center left).
The crew that helped start Higgins in 1994, including co-owners Paul Mallory (seared atop banquette at center left) and chef and co-owner Greg Higgins (seated in chair at center left).The Oregonian/file
FOOD
Justin Woodward, 43
The Boston-born, California-raised chef worked in New York and European restaurants before landing in Portland and heading the kitchen at Castagna. A five-time James Beard Award finalist for best chef Northwest, he launched the wine bar OK Omens, which The Oregonian/OregonLive selected as one of Portland’s 10 best new restaurants of 2018. Woodward died of liver failure.
Paul Mallory, 71
The Connecticut-born former bartender teamed up with chef Greg Higgins to open Higgins in downtown Portland in 1994. The restaurant was a hit, becoming a tent pole as Portland evolved into a foodie paradise. Greg Higgins called Mallory the “quiet force behind so much of what made Higgins what it is.”
Jim Roake, 78
The owner of an iconic hot dog stand on Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard — that one of his longtime employees called “the OG of food trucks” — Roake served hot dogs, hamburgers and fries from the stand that bore his name starting in 1975.
Roake’s — known for its affordable comfort food and the neon sign in the shape of a wiener dog atop its Milwaukie location — once had six locations in the Portland area, which has a long history of relishing hot dogs.
JOURNALISM
David Stabler, 72
The Oregonian’s long-time classical-music critic earned piano-performance degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the Eastman School of Music, and later he was a John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University. Before coming to Portland in 1985, he taught music in Alaska and wrote music criticism for the Anchorage Daily News. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and retired from The Oregonian in 2015.
Diane Lund-Muzikant, 86
The former freelance health writer ran the Oregon Health Forum and its publication, Oregon Health News, in the 1990s. Then, after being dismissed by the nonprofit’s board over disagreements about her reporting, she founded the independent The Lund Report, which became an influential health-care news outlet. The Lund Report heralded “her feisty nature, insatiable curiosity and compassionate heart.”
Sometimes a Great Yogurt ... the dairy side of Oregon's famous Kesey family
Sue and Chuck Kesey (Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian)LC- The Oregonian
BUSINESS
Rick Wright, 62
The Market of Choice CEO grew up in the grocery business, working in his family’s Thriftway and Price Chopper stores. After college, the surfing and auto-racing enthusiast worked for grocery wholesaler Supervalu before rejoining his family’s Eugene-based business. In 1997, he took over as chief executive, rebranded the company and focused on more natural and organic products. He also expanded Market of Choice to 12 locations across the state.
Chuck Kesey, 87, and Sue Kesey, 86
The affable southern Oregon power couple met at Oregon State University and then founded the Eugene-based Springfield Creamery, where they pioneered using live probiotics in yogurt and helped drive the natural-food movement of the 1970s. Their Nancy’s Probiotic Foods product line became a staple in stores across the country. Chuck’s brother was the author and ’60s counterculture poobah Ken Kesey, and so it was the Grateful Dead that stepped in with a benefit concert to help Springfield Creamery through a tough time early in its existence.
John A. Young, 93
The Oregon State graduate rose through the ranks at Hewlett-Packard Co., becoming CEO in 1978 and taking H-R to a leadership position in the burgeoning personal-computer sector. Born in Idaho and raised in Klamath Falls, he served in the U.S. Air Force and went on to earn an MBA at Stanford. He is a member of Oregon State’s Engineering Hall of Fame.
Robert Rummer, 97
Born in Davenport, Wash., Rummer grew up in Washington and Oregon and spent two years in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from Linfield University and started selling life insurance. He soon transitioned to home building, ultimately focusing on affordable but memorable midcentury modern homes. He introduced to Oregon a style of house that was oriented toward the backyard, with a minimum of interior walls between communal spaces and with glass-enclosed atriums.
Gregg Kantor, 67
The political aide-turned-utilities executive was born in Chicago and raised in California, but he embraced his adopted home of Portland, helping bring about the Portland Classical Chinese Garden (now known as the Lan Su Chinese Garden) and serving on the board of the Albina Vision Trust. He was a spokesperson for Gov. Neil Goldschmidt before working for Portland General Electric and Bonneville Power. He served as NW Natural’s chief executive from 2009 to 2016.
Bill Stoller, 74
The serial entrepreneur grew up in Yamhill County, graduated from Pacific University and earned an MBA from Portland State. He cofounded the staffing company Express Employment International, which now has more than 800 offices in the U.S. and overseas. He then bought what had been his family’s turkey farm and turned it into a winery, launching Stoller Wine Group. He took over the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in 2020.
Bill Fuller, 88
The winemaker spent nine years at Louis Martini Winery in California before moving to Oregon in 1973 with “a bold vision for cool-climate Pinot Noir,” Willamette Valley Vineyards said. Fuller cofounded Tualatin Vineyards, scoring numerous awards and acclaim in the wine industry.
Isaka Shamsud-Din
Artist Isaka Shamsud-Din in his Portland studio in St. Johns. Samantha Swindler/Staff
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Michael Hurley, 83
“I never thought of a career in music,” the singer-songwriter said in 2021. “What I do is goof off – and try to get away with it.” Hurley did get away with it, having a low-key but impactful 60 years of goofing off. The New Jersey-born musician moved around a fair amount in his life, ultimately ending up in Brownsmead in Clatsop County. He came to be identified with a genre known as “freak folk,” influencing many artists who came along in his wake.
Denis Arndt, 86
The Ohio-born actor was a U.S. Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, earning a purple heart, before landing in Seattle, where he began his performing career and helped found Intiman Theatre. Starting in 1976, he spent 15 seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, taking on many starring roles. He moved from stage to screen mid-career, appearing in the TV hits “LA Law” and “Picket Fences” and movies such as “Basic Instinct.” He scored a Tony Award nomination in 2017 for his role in the play “Heisenberg.”
Isaka Shamsud-Din, 84
The artist, activist and educator moved from Texas to Portland when he was a young boy. His family briefly lived in Vanport until the devastating 1948 flood hit the area. In the 1960s he returned to the South to work for the seminal civil-rights group the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Back in Portland, he created the Albina Mural Project and taught art in both Portland’s public schools and Washington state prisons. The Portland Art Museum, which presented an exhibition of Shamsud-Din’s work, heralded his “masterful painting, rich in narrative combining personal stories and folklore.”
Joe Hickerson, 89
He studied physics in college and dreamed of being an astronaut. Instead, he became a folk musician. He played in bands, wrote music reviews for various publications and helped pen Pete Seeger’s iconic song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” He would go on to serve as the head archivist of folk music at the Library of Congress. He moved to Portland late in life, in his 70s, but he jumped right into the local scene, including writing a column for the Portland Folklore Society’s publication.
Milton Korgan, 85
The Oklahoma-born music producer and disc jockey, who went by “Mike,” worked at radio stations in Oklahoma and Nebraska before landing in Portland. In the Rose City, where he ruled the airwaves as Ken Chase – and ran a teen nightclub with his wife – he produced the Kingsmen’s recording of “Louie Louie.” The song became a 1963 hit, and its mostly incomprehensible lyrics prompted an FBI investigation over obscenity concerns. This version of “Louie Louie” evolved into a beloved rock ’n’ roll standard, and it continues to send ripples out into the world. Its closing lyrics serve as an appropriate farewell not only for Korgan but, eventually, for all of us:
Ah, Louie, Louie, oh no
Said, we gotta go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Said, Louie, Louie, oh baby
Said, we gotta go
I said, me gotta go now
Let’s hustle on out of here
Let’s go!