Topic: Biographies
Randy Revelle, a third-generation Seattleite and King County Executive from 1981 to 1985, was born into a family with a tradition of public service and politics, a tradition he diligently tried to uph...
Lawney Reyes, a Sin-Aikst Indian artist, architect, and author, overcame a childhood of poverty and discrimination to become an award-winning sculptor and a historian of Northwest Native American acti...
Constance Williams Rice, Ph.D., was named in 1985 by Seattle Weekly as one of the 25 most powerful women in Seattle. Two decades later, Rice continues to be a leader in a wide range of civic activiti...
Norm Rice was elected mayor of Seattle in 1989 and served two four-year terms. He was the first African American to win the office and the first in the nation to govern a city that had an African Amer...
Born in Seattle on May 15, 1921, Huston "Hu" Sears Riley grew up on Mercer Island in a house built around 1905 by his architect father. By all accounts a quiet and modest man, Hu became the face of th...
Irvine Robbins, who started scooping ice cream as a kid in his family’s Seattle and Tacoma stores, used his entrepreneurial spirit to create Baskin-Robbins, the world’s best-known ice crea...
Pacific Northwest novelist Tom Robbins, profoundly provoked and inspired by what he calls the "1960s renaissance," is often hailed as a comic/spiritual chronicler of that tumultuous decade. But his ei...
A founding father of Northwest rock 'n' roll, Tacoma's "Rockin' Robin" Roberts (1940-1967) initially sang with that town's trailblazing 1950s white rhythm & blues combo, the Blue Notes. But in mid-195...
Bob Robertson's radio audience on fall Saturdays stretched across Washington and into every demographic: the hunter in Asotin driving home from the duck blind, the gardener in Port Angeles covering he...
Seattle-born activist and musician Earl H. Robinson is remembered for writing some of the labor movement's most famous ballads, including "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night." Robinson attended West ...
Herbert F. "Herb" Robinson was an award-winning television and newspaper journalist in Seattle who served as lead editorial writer for The Seattle Times from 1977 to 1989, and as anchor, news director...
Al Rochester, a lifelong Seattle resident, was active in the Democratic Party, served on the Seattle City Council (1944-1956), and published The Seattlite. Rochester was the original advocate and foun...
Seattle's growth from a village to a city was spurred by the fortuitous geographical location of the Queen City of Puget Sound, and by a steady stream of hopeful, ambitious men and women from elsewher...
Jay Rockey was the director of public relations for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) and the founder of Jay Rockey Public Relations, later The Rockey Company, which became the lea...
Theodore Roethke, recognized by many as one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century, taught at the University of Washington from 1947 until his death in 1963. There, he inspired a gene...
John Rogers, who served as Washington's third governor from 1897 until 1901, was the state's only Populist executive. Despite concerns that he would be an activist administrator and bring embarrassmen...
Through hard work, dedication, and (to some degree) an interest in bridge, Nat Rogers (1898-1990) founded and helped grow Van Rogers & Waters, Inc. (now Univar USA) into North America's largest chemic...
Soulful Seattle singer Valerie Rosa's family roots were in Italy, Norway, and pre-statehood Alaska Territory. Her father was a professional musician who performed with prominent Seattle dance bands of...
Albert D. Rosellini, governor of Washington state from 1956 to 1965, was born to Italian American immigrants in Tacoma on January 21, 1910. The family relocated to Seattle's Rainier Valley in 1916. De...
Victor Rosellini founded a string of acclaimed and successful restaurants in downtown Seattle and became known as Seattle's premiere host. He opened Rosellini's 610 in 1950, and Rosellini's Four-10 in...
Glynn Ross was the founding General Director of the Seattle Opera, and served the opera as General Director from 1963 to 1983. Of his numerous achievements in this capacity, perhaps the most notable w...
James Delmage (J. D.) Ross is known as the Father of Seattle City Light. A firm believer in the municipal ownership of power utilities, Ross helped design and build the power plant at Cedar Falls on t...
Michael K. Ross was a Seattle politician, construction worker, and an effective and outspoken leader in the fight for civil rights and economic justice. He was known for his demonstrations in support ...
Washington Territory’s De Tocqueville is an apt description for Father Louis Rossi, a Catholic missionary priest who ministered for just over three years, from 1856 to 1860 in Washington Territo...