LINCOLN — It was 1979, and a college freshman was searching the State Capitol for lobbyist Walt Radcliffe, who was scheduled to speak to young leaders from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Eventually, the freshman, Scott Moore, caught up with Radcliffe, who posed a profane question to the student that was something like, “What the heck am I supposed to say to these kids?”

“I knew right then that this was someone I was going to like,” said Moore, who went on to become a state senator, Nebraska Secretary of State and later, a top executive at Union Pacific.

Stories like that, and many more, circulated across the state as word spread about the death of Radcliffe, 77, on Thursday afternoon.

Work spanned 10 governors

A Lincoln native whose work spanned 10 governors, Radcliffe was the undisputed dean of the statehouse lobbying corps. He had his own padded bench in the Capitol Rotunda.

His firm, Radcliffe Gilbertson & Brady, annually ranked among the state’s top in annual revenue.

He also served as a valuable — and engaging — font of institutional knowledge about the Legislature for lawmakers and governors as such knowledge was disappearing due to term limits.

His storytelling was legendary, as were his counsel and history lessons for lawmakers and others.

“He really cared about the institution,” said Patrick O’Donnell, the former clerk of the Legislature and a long-time friend who met Radcliffe in a UNL fraternity. “The Legislature had a big loss today.”

“Nobody knew the legislative process better than him,” said Lynn Rex, executive director League of Nebraska Municipalities. She said Radcliffe was a mentor to her and many other lobbyists.

Former State Sen. John Stinner, who chaired the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, said Radcliffe once gave him valuable advice on how to tap into a state health care fund to help close a monumental $1 billion shortfall in the budget.

“He was extremely helpful in many instances,” Stinner said. “I’m going to miss him.”

Part of the place

U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., a former speaker of the Legislature, said “people probably think we were too close to Walt as a lobbyist.”

“But he was bigger than a lobbyist,” Flood said. “He was just part of the fabric of the Legislature.”

A graduate of UNL and the NU College of Law, Radcliffe liked to point out that he worked only a couple of miles from where he grew up.

His first jobs at the Capitol were as a legislative page and a proofreader. He later served as an assistant clerk of the Legislature and as legal counsel to the Judiciary and Banking Committees, and as chief legal counsel in the clerk’s office.

Radcliffe’s lobbying career began in 1977 as a partner with former State Sen. David Tews. He purchased the firm a couple of years later, which became Radcliffe and Associates before the latest name change.

He continued to lobby this spring, though his trips to his bench — which for a time had its own Twitter account — became less frequent.

“He was a people person. That job was his lifeblood,” said Korby Gilbertson, a long-time associate at the firm. “We always knew he’d work until he couldn’t, because that’s what he did.”

Known for NU advocacy

His firm long represented the University of Nebraska, fighting for its programs and funding. But Radcliffe also represented liquor, tobacco and gambling clients because, Gilbertson said, he “wasn’t afraid of a good battle.”

In addition, Radcliffe also lobbied free-of-charge for entities opposed to the death penalty, and, his friends said, was genuinely interested in helping the state, and its institutions, do well.

Moore said that Radcliffe’s greatest skill as a lobbyist was his ability to boil down complicated subjects into simple terms. He worked long hours and was a good listener and storyteller, he said, who didn’t seek to “poach” clients from other lobbyists and was very clear where his clients stood.

”He was a man of integrity,” Moore said. “That’s why people respected him, and why he got so many things passed.”

Former Gov. Dave Heineman described Radcliffe as “very professional, very knowledgeable and a very straightforward lobbyist.”

“I enjoyed working with him,” Heineman said.

Petition work got him in trouble

Radcliffe briefly got in trouble in 1986, when he was indicted for hiring and paying petition circulators seeking to get an issue on the statewide ballot to allow a state lottery. But the charge was dismissed on appeal. Paying petition circulators is now legal and commonplace in the state.

Radcliffe received a liver transplant in 1999, but in recent years battled other health issues. Gilbertson said he entered hospice care on Thursday morning after battling an infection for several days. He died hours later from kidney failure and other health issues.

Flood said he spent many hours in Radcliffe’s office across the street from the Capitol as a young state senator and later as speaker, listening and learning about past lawmakers and speakers.

“It wasn’t like he was telling me what to do in a certain situation, but he’d say, ‘We had this same problem, and this is what a past speaker did,’ and how it worked or didn’t work,” Flood said.

“While he was an advocate, he wanted the Legislature to look good, too.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.