Alaskans remember Oliver Leavitt as an influential leader and whaling captain

Alaskans are mourning the lack of a North Slope chief, who grew up working sled canine groups to gather firewood alongside the Arctic coast — and got here of age within the time of snowmachines, borough governments and Native firms.   

Oliver Aveogan Leavitt died Sunday on the age of 79.    

Oliver Leavitt was a whaling captain and a cultural beacon for his folks, fluent in Inupiaq and recognized for his capability to make pores and skin whaling boats, or umiaks, with out a blueprint.

Richard Glenn, an govt vp on the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., referred to as Leavitt his mentor. The 2 males served collectively on the board and in administration roles.

“With out a piece of paper in your hand, to go from dimensional woods, exhausting woods, to finish up with a whaling boat is a talent,” he stated.

Glenn stated he admired Leavitt for his capability to combat for his area — and to maneuver comfortably from the boardroom to each the whaling camp and the halls of Washington, D.C.

“He was adept at it. He made it easy,” Glenn stated. “He has a diplomat’s talent, however he additionally has a hard-won, nuts-and-bolts type of schooling.”

Leavitt used that schooling to assist flip ASRC into Alaska’s largest personal firm.

Former Democratic state Sen. Willie Hensley, a frontrunner in Alaska Natives’ land claims combat, met Leavitt when he received out of the Military.

“I’ve recognized him for 50 years,” Hensley stated.

After Leavitt’s army service, Hensley stated, he devoted himself to a lifetime of public service —working to kind a brand new borough, teaming up with different leaders to show ASRC into an organization that earns billions in revenues yearly.  

“He was persistent,” Hensley stated. “And in an effort to do the issues he needed to do, he needed to work exhausting and virtually camped in Washington, D.C.”

Hensley stated one in all Leavitt’s largest accomplishments was his battle to assist the North Slope Borough achieve entry to a gasoline area managed by the U.S. Navy. That entry enabled the borough to deliver warmth and energy to properties within the area.  

Though Hensley was from Kotzebue, a group on the northwest coast of Alaska, he stated the 2 males bonded over their upbringing — rising up in a time when there have been no trendy facilities, simply numerous exhausting work.

“The rationale we’re good associates:  I perceive precisely what he was saying,” Hensley stated.  

Hensley stated Leavitt was obsessed with enhancing life within the Arctic. Though they didn’t all the time agree about how to do that, their friendship endured. Hensley was at Leavitt’s aspect to supply consolation when he died in his dwelling village of Utqiaġvik, surrounded by family members.

A memorial for Leavitt is deliberate for 1 p.m. Monday in Utqiaġvik at Barrow Excessive College.