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Oregon Lawmaker Ed Fadeley Dies At 85

OPB

A longtime Oregon lawmaker has died. Ed Fadeley passed away Sunday evening of complications from heart failure. KLCC’s Tiffany Eckert has this remembrance.

In the state legislature, Ed Fadeley represented the people of Lane County for 26 years. He started his political career in the Oregon House in 1960 then joined the Senate. He rose to Senate President in ’83 but lost the post to John Kitzhaber after two years.

Fadeley has been described as a fierce Democrat, feisty, and talkative. He was proud of his part in shutting down the Washington Public Power Supply System, also known as “WHOOPS” in the 1970’s. He advanced environmental bills like bottle redemption and land-use planning along with Representative Nancie Fadeley, his wife at the time. Their daughter, Shira Fadeley, remembers what it was like to have both parents serving in the state legislature.

Shira Fadeley: “You know it was crazy and the greatest thing was they really go someplace. There’s a picture of them when they were working on gasohol in the ‘70’s. They made lots of decisions that made Oregon a better place and there are things we just take for granted anymore.”

In 1988, Fadeley served as a justice on the Oregon Supreme Court. He stepped down a decade later to fight throat cancer. Ed Fadeley died Sunday. He was 85.

Postscript: Shira Fadeley says her brother, Charles Fadeley, and her dad’s wife, Darian, were together in the hospital room before Ed Fadeley’s death.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
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