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From: "Michelle :-\)" <>
Subject: [US-OBITS] HOLBROOK, William Star Tribune, MPLS, MN
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 22:12:50 -0500

Obituary: William Holbrook dies, was Park Board member for 22 years
Trudi Hahn, Star Tribune

Published Feb. 28, 2003 HOLB28


Services were held Monday for William Holbrook, who served on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for 22 years.

Holbrook also was instrumental in organizing a write-in campaign for Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential primary election.

Holbrook died of lung cancer Feb. 20 in Minneapolis. He was 77.

After serving in the Philippines during World War II, Holbrook earned a law degree at the University of Minnesota.

In 1952, he was the secretary of Minnesotans for Eisenhower and worked behind the scenes to plan a Republican primary write-in campaign for Eisenhower, who was still undecided about running, said William Hathaway of Minneapolis.

"Bill enjoyed staying in the background and letting others take credit," said Hathaway, who did public relations for the group.

Although the general's name wasn't on any primary ballots, more than 100,000 Minnesotans wrote his name on the ballot. Eisenhower later told a staffer that the Minnesota write-in led to his decision to run, Hathaway said.

In the 1950s, Holbrook left his law practice to work as a partner in Americans Abroad, a travel agency in the Dinkytown area of Minneapolis.

When he decided to run for the Park Board in 1967, his campaign brochures featured pictures of Dutch gardens full of tulips.

"He wanted to present this image of what he might bring to the parks," said his daughter, Susan Perdue of Palmyra, Va.

Beyond beautification of parks, access for everybody was his main goal, she said. He was especially pleased by the board's development of a number of neighborhood parks, or tot parks as he called them, where children could have a safe place to play, she said.

He also was active in negotiating with Hennepin County about regional funding for Minneapolis parks, including the Chain of Lakes, the Mississippi River and Minnehaha and Theodore Wirth parks, that served a large number of people from outside the city.

But he didn't want a fee system. "It automatically discriminates against those who can't pay," he said.

In 1989, he left the Park Board, having retired earlier from the travel agency. He volunteered his business expertise to several nonprofit agencies, including the American Youth Hostels, for which he was a volunteer director in the early 1990s, and the Aliveness Project, which offers support for people living with HIV and AIDS.

In addition to his daughter Susan, survivors include his wife, Jane of Minneapolis; sons David of Campbell, Calif., and Drew of Minneapolis, and four grandchildren.

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