Ralph Okerlund, whose career in public service spanned more than three decades as a city councilman, mayor, county commissioner and state senator, died Wednesday at the age of 72.
“Former Sen. Ralph Okerlund represented the best of rural Utah,” Gov. Spencer Cox said in a statement. “He dedicated his life to public service with a focus on rural economies, education and public lands. Sen. Okerlund was an exceptional legislator and an exceptional man.”
During his tenure in the Legislature, Okerlund advocated for rural economic development, funding for Snow College and tax credits aimed at helping to lure businesses to rural parts of the state.
In a 2020 interview with the Sanpete Messenger, Okerlund, who was leaving the Senate at the time, cited the tax incentives as one of his proudest accomplishments. He said an official from the governor’s office told him that “billions of dollars [of business investment] have been created as a result” of the legislation.
Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Utah Senate Majority Leader Ralph Okerlund listens to debate in the Senate Chamber on HCR11, a bill that would urge the President to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument, during debate in the Senate Chamber in Salt Lake City, Friday February 3, 2017.
He chaired the Legislature’s redistricting commission in 2011 and was the Republican’s point man in opposing a 2018 ballot initiative, Proposition 4, that sought to ban partisan gerrymandering.
Inspired by a group of students who had studied the Pando, a quaking aspen forest near Richfield that, because all the trees share the same root system, is recognized as the world’s most massive organism, Okerlund sponsored legislation in 2013 to make the aspen Utah’s official tree, replacing the Colorado blue spruce.
“He dedicated his life to serving the state, tirelessly advocating for Utah’s rural communities and becoming a trusted friend to many,” said Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, who was Senate president for two of the seven years in which Okerlund served as majority leader.
“His legacy of service and kindness will be remembered by all who had the privilege to know him,” Adams said.
(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) Senators J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, left, and Sen. Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe speak with each other on the floor of the Utah Senate, Wednesday, March 6, 2013.
In 2014, Okerlund collapsed during a meeting between House and Senate leadership. A senator who is trained as an emergency medical technician performed CPR until another senator who is an emergency room doctor arrived. He was hospitalized but missed the final two days of the session.
Despite suffering serious heart and kidney ailments, eventually undergoing transplants of both organs in 2018, he served six more sessions before retiring in 2020.
“We loved Cindy and Ralph from the day we met him. He was a very kind and gracious individual,” said Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, who had the Okerlunds in his home when he was having his heart transplant.
Stevenson said that when he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Legislature, Okerlund was “one of those guys who put his arm around me and said, ‘Here, let me show you how it works here. … The way he reached across the aisle, everyone in the Legislature was included. It didn’t matter if you were a Democrat or Republican, everyone knew Ralph. He was always a true statesman in the way he dealt with people.”
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, joined the Senate in the same year and, she said, “built a working relationship” despite their different backgrounds.
“We often found similarities despite the differences between his rural and my urban district,” she said. “I deeply appreciate his commitment to protecting our state’s natural resources, especially water, which is a paramount issue surrounding our state.”
Okerlund was born July 28, 1952, in Salina, to Gerald and Jean Okerlund, and grew up on the family’s dairy farm and excelled in sports, especially baseball.
In 1972 he married his wife, Cindy, and the two went on to have three children — Justin, Tiffany and Shannon — and 10 grandchildren.
He played baseball at Dixie College before transferring to The University of Utah where he studied political science with minors in English and philosophy. He earned a teaching certificate from Southern Utah State College and then taught English and history and coached sports teams at South Sevier High School.
After five years in teaching, he bought the family farm in Monroe and returned to running the operation.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Senators Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe, speaks with Ann Milner, R-Ogden, before the start of the day's floor time at the Utah Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018.
In 1980 he was elected to the city council, and then appointed as mayor, serving two terms. He spent three terms on the Sevier County Commission before winning a seat in the state Senate in 2008. His Republican colleagues elected him majority leader in 2013, a position he held until he retired from the body in 2020.
Funeral services are scheduled for Monday, Oct. 14 at noon at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake center in Monroe, with calling hours Oct. 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Magleby Mortuary in Richfield and at the stake center in Monroe beginning at 9:30 a.m.
