Gordon Francis Rasmussen, 94, passed away Sunday, December 17, after a brief illness.

Born at Swedish Hospital on October 29, 1923 to Florence Pearson Rasmussen and Captain Jacob Rasmussen, he grew up on Queen Anne as one of four children. He attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, and later earned an M.B.A. there after serving in the Navy during the reconstruction of Japan. He had wonderful memories of growing up in the Boy Scouts under the leadership of Clark Schurman, where he developed his skills as a mountaineer in the Cascades. Over several years he and other members of the troop built, by hand, the Camp Schurman shelter on Mt. Rainier that has been in continuous use on the Emmons Glacier Route since its completion in 1961.

Gordon loved Washington’s many rivers and lakes, and spent years exploring both with a fly rod, a salmon rod, and a wood sailboat called Lightning. He had any number of fishing companions, and spent more than ten years in the company of those from the Overlake Fly Fishing Club. His two daughters and four grandchildren have great memories of fishing at Sekiu in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, even when that meant getting up at 4:30am in the cold and dark. It’s a tradition they plan to carry on.

Susan Ott was the love of his life, and they were married for 55 years before her passing in 2014. Married in 1958, their daughter Susan was born in 1960, and daughter Julie four years later.

For 33 years, Gordon worked in the marketing department at Boeing. Always active in the community, he was elected to the Mercer Island City Council, and the Mercer Island Community Fund. He was also an active member of the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, and the Rotary Club.

Gordon is survived by Sue and Jerry Johnson, Nicholas and Alexandra Ketcham, Julie, Madeleine, and Peter Moberly, and Thomas Rasmussen. A service will be held Saturday, January 6th at 2pm in the Community Hall at Covenant Shores on Mercer Island. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Overlake Fly Fishing Club at P.O. Box 52894, Bellevue, WA 98015 or by PayPal to treasurer@offc.org; or the Western Rivers Conservancy at westernrivers.org