The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, which benefited for decades from the help of Senator Alan Kooi Simpson, mourns his passing after a life of accomplishment, wit, and wisdom.
Simpson, 93, died Thursday in Cody, Wyoming, just miles from the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and Mineta-Simpson Institute, the conference center dedicated to preserving the values displayed in public life by Simpson and Secretary Norman Mineta. The two men first as Boy Scouts at Heart Mountain in 1943 and remained friends until Mineta’s death in 2022.
Heart Mountain leaders called Simpson a dedicated public servant whose advice and counsel was critical to the organization’s creation and success:
“Al has always been a mentor, supporter and inspiration to me throughout my tenure at the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation,” said Board Chair Shirley Ann Higuchi. “His constant support, advice and encouragement inspired me to take Heart Mountain to the highest possible level.”
“I believe him to be nothing less than one of the wisest, wittiest, best informed, most honest, most principled, most patriotic, most courageous, most farseeing, and most honorable men to grace our nation’s public life in the last half century,” said Douglas Nelson, vice chair of the Heart Mountain board.
“It is difficult to imagine a Wyoming without Al, or a world without Al,” said Heart Mountain Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin. “This great man will forever be cherished by his Heart Mountain family and held high as our model by which integrity is measured.”
Last July, Heart Mountain opened the Mineta-Simpson Institute, which includes an exhibit dedicated to the lives of Simpson and Mineta. Despite their differences in background and political parties, they believed the best way for our nation to thrive is by working together to help solve the nation’s difficult challenges.