Ben Stevens, Former Alaska Senate President, Dies While Hiking at Age 63

DAVID J SHEAKLEY/AP/Shutterstock Ben Stevens

Former Alaska politician Ben Stevens died late last week at the age of 63, after suffering a medical emergency while hiking near Seward.

On Thursday evening Alaska State Troopers, U.S. Forest Service officers and medics were dispatched to the Chugach National Forest to respond to a report of a hiker needing CPR on the Lost Lake Trail. Life-saving measures were unsuccessful, according to online dispatch records, and the deceased hiker was later identified as Stevens.

Stevens served in the Alaska state Senate from 2001 to 2007, working his way up to Senate majority leader and then Senate president. In the years since he left the state Senate, he had stints as a member of the Republican National Committee, chief of staff for Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and, most recently, vice president of external affairs and transportation for oil producer ConocoPhillips.

Stevens' rise to power in the early 2000s was aided by the national prominence of his politician father, longtime U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who was killed in a 2010 plane crash in southern Alaska.

Months after deciding he would not seek reelection for Alaska Senate in 2006, Stevens was caught up in an FBI probe investigating political corruption in the state, including bribes by oil producer VECO Corporation and alleged conflicts of interest with a fishing company that benefited from legislation passed in 2003.

Though Stevens was never charged with a crime, his father was indicted — and later found guilty — in connection with the same investigation, for failing to properly report gifts.

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"Ben's unexpected passing will be felt across all of Alaska. He was a friend of mine and a valued leader of our state," Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, who served in the state House during Stevens' tenure in state government, tweeted on Friday. "I'm glad to have just had lunch with Ben on Wednesday. I will cherish that time with him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family during these tough times. They lost him too early."

Stevens is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their children.