Former Salt Lake City mayor Ted Wilson dies at 84
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson died on Thursday, April 11, according to his family. Wilson was 84 years old. His family said he died due to congestive heart failure and Parkinson’s disease.
The Wilson family sent a statement to ABC4, which reads:
“Ted Wilson passed today surrounded by family. As the eternal optimist, he loved people and they loved him back. We are honored that his memory will live on in the legacy he built as Salt Lake City Mayor, through the countless people he has taught and mentored, his decades of humanitarian service, and his mountaineering accomplishments. Ted’s lifetime priorities were his family and public service. He built and nurtured many deep and meaningful friendships and would remind us all to ‘never sweat the small stuff’.”
Utah officials responded to Wilson’s passing online, including Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
“Ted Wilson devoted most of his life to public services. As a Utah National Guardsman, Salt Lake City’s mayor, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and a trusted advisor to Gov. Gary Herbert, Ted always put people over politics. Abby and I are grateful for his devotion to our state and we express our deepest sympathies to his family,” he wrote.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall shared her memories of Wilson online, writing that he was her mentor and a cherished friend.
“To this City, he was a giant and a champion. His legacy is a permanent thread in our City’s story. He was a committed leader, a driver of progress and someone willing to listen, learn, and evolve,” she wrote.
Mendenhall went on to describe Wilson as a driver of progress, saying her heart is with Wilson’s family.
“Ted Wilson made Salt Lake City better in more ways than we’ll ever be able to count. I look forward to the day when thinking of Ted again brings more smiles than tears. Until then, I will miss my friend, and Salt Lake City will miss a true legend,” she wrote.
Wilson was born on May 18, 1939 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in 1964, a master’s from the University of Washington in 1969 and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Westminster College in 1983.
He served in the Utah Army National Guard from 1957 to 1963. Wilson later started his political career in 1973 as he was appointed Chief of Staff to Utah Congressman Wayne Owens. In 1975, Wilson was appointed to direct the Department of Social Services in Salt Lake County.
He was elected to three terms as the mayor of Salt Lake City, serving from 1976 – 1985, before he later became the Director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. Wilson ran for U.S. Senate in 1982 against Orrin Hatch and in 1988 was the Democratic candidate for Governor of the State of Utah.
Wilson was known for overseeing the city’s response to the floods of 1983, working to reconstruct the Salt Lake City International Airport and his community and environmental efforts.
Wilson worked as the director of the Utah Clean Air Partnership and the director of the Utah Rivers Council, as well as serving as the environmental advisor to Gov. Gary Herbert.
The Hinckley Institute writes that outside of politics, Wilson had a great love for mountaineering.
“He has climbed peaks around the world from the Alps to the Andes, established three climbing schools, and he received the Department of the Interior Valor Award in 1967 for his role in a rescue on the North Face of the Grand Teton,” their website said.
Wilson and his first wife Kathryn Carling had five children together, including current Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson. He was later married to former Salt Lake Tribune columnist Holly Mullen and was stepfather to her two children.
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