Today's Featured Biography

 
Dean Gisvold

In 1958, when my father's job required a move to Iowa, I decided to remain in Robbinsdale with relatives to finish my senior year. Immediately after graduation, I moved to Iowa and enrolled at Iowa State. After a year majoring in chemical engineering, I switched to liberal arts, eventually graduating in 1963 with four minors, math, history, accounting and philosophy. In 1963, at Westminster Church in Minneapolis, I married Susan, also a 1963 ISU graduate. She taught home ec at Bloomington and University High Schools and I entered the law school at the University of Minnesota.

In the summer of 1966, we headed to Portland, Oregon, and a job with one of the oldest law firms in Oregon, a position I occupy to this day, but now as part time senior partner.

Our love of old houses led us to buy a 1912 fixer upper with many stained and leaded glass windows in a transitional neighborhood. Within a few years, we filled it with six children, two home products, and four adopted children of color.

Along with other young professionals, we got involved in local politics, which included getting new blood elected to city hall and the county commission, working on downtown city planning and land use regulations to prevent urban sprawl, and improving the Portland school system. Over the years I was chair of the downtown planning committee, and elected to the Portland School Board.

I gave up driving to work in 1971, and started riding my bike, an activity that continues to this day. In 1971, there were few riders on the streets, but I am proud to say that Portland is now a national leader in getting commuters on transit and bikes-about 6% of all trips in and out of downtown are on bikes.

Besides my wife of 46 years, my children, and my 9 grandchildren, 6 in Portland, 2 in Washington DC, and 1 in Istanbul, Turkey, I am most proud of my service on the board of directors of Central City Concern, a non profit organization serving the homeless, and those seeking recovery from alcohol and drug addictions. In 1980, CCC started with a staff of 4, 1 program and an annual budget of $300,000. This fiscal year, with 550 employees and a budget of 38 million, CCC will serve thousands with housing, detox services, treatment, and many other programs, including downtown medical and mental health clinics.

Finally, with 2 children doing international work, we have traveled to many countries, including Venezuela, Macedonia, Turkey, Kosovo, Yugoslavia (before the break up), Kenya, Costa Rica, and Israel. As long as our health holds, we will pursue our passion for travel and learning about other cultures.

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