Native American environmental leader and treaty rights activist Billy Frank, Jr., died on May 5 at age 83.

Frank was a friend and advisor to the college for many years. He was one of the first Daniel J. Evans Scholars in 1995, served as an Evergreen trustee from 1996 to 2003, and received honorary MES and MPA degrees from the college in 2004. Frank was on the front line of the long struggle over treaty-guaranteed Indian fishing rights in the 1960s and ‘70s. His perseverance landed him in jail more than 40 times, bringing national attention to the issue and helping to guarantee Indian fishing rights when the “Boldt Decision” was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1979. As chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, Frank achieved a number of key agreements between the tribes and various local, state and federal officials that further strengthened treaty-guaranteed fishing rights and environmental protection laws.