Former Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney dies at 81

Peter Courtney, the longest-serving legislator and Senate president in Oregon history, died Tuesday morning. He was 81.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a press release that Courtney died from complications related to cancer at his Salem home surrounded by family. He was treated for ureteral cancer in 2021.

Courtney was a tireless public servant who championed many causes for children and families and presided over decades of political change, serving 38 years as a state legislator and 20 years as the Senate president.

"He was always trying to build a better Oregon," said close friend and former Oregon Sen. Lee Beyer. "He was truly a son of Oregon, even if he was a transplant."

Courtney stood out for his style and personality, at turns grandiose and self-deprecating.

He addressed reporters by barking out their hometowns or alma maters (“Cedar Rapids!” “Harvard!”), referred to himself in the third person and often got off on a tangent sprinkled with insults wrapped in compliments or the other way around.

When Courtney held court, it was never dull and always entertaining.

He had a knack for going off-script when making a speech. He lamented how many people in politics are overly cautious at the dais, afraid to speak from the heart because of optics and social media.

“It’s always better than what was written down,” his wife said earlier this year. “I used to get a kick out of people who would say, ‘Oh, Senator, can I get a copy of your speech?’ I used to say, 'Good luck with that. Only if someone recorded it.'"

Doctors warned Courtney about the stress taking its toll

Courtney recently acknowledged to the Statesman Journal that the accumulative stress of more than four decades in political office contributed to, if not caused, his recent health problems. He was two months removed from having transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland.

“You can’t worry and stress the way I did and not beat up your body,” Courtney said during an interview at the Salem home where he and his wife, Margie, raised their three sons. “There were too many doctors telling me — but basically I was too stupid to hear it — that the stress was eating me up.”

He was diagnosed in November with congestive heart failure, adding insult to injury for a man who never wanted to retire. Before that, he had a cancer scare and had a kidney removed.

He said he always figured he would die in the Legislature, only half-jokingly.

Room 206 at the Salem YMCA was his home for 2 years

Peter Michael Coleman Courtney was born in Philadelphia and grew up in West Virginia, attending Catholic schools. He credited the nuns for helping mold him into the respected public speaker he became.

He earned an undergraduate degree and master’s in public administration from the University of Rhode Island, then a law degree from Boston University in 1969.

An Oregon appellate judge offered him a clerkship, and Courtney jumped at the chance to take the job despite being across the country.

He loved telling how he flew into Portland, took the Greyhound bus to Salem and found a place to stay at the YMCA. He lived in Room 206 for two years and never forgot the Y. Years later he would help secure state funding for a new facility to be built.

Salem became his home. He met Margie Brenden, and they married in 1976.

When they were dating, he would visit her parent's house in Mt. Angel. He seldom went into the house and did not talk much, preferring instead to be outside petting the family dog.

Some of her family members were shocked when they learned he planned to run for City Council.

"They couldn’t believe this shy man was going into politics," Margie said.

Riverfront Park vision comes into focus while on City Council

Courtney served on the Salem City Council from 1974 to 1980 and never missed a meeting.

“I’m proud of that,” he told the Statesman Journal in early 2023. “That was the time I learned how to be a person who dealt with people who didn’t always agree with you.”

Courtney's tenure on the city council came at a time when the Riverfront Downtown Urban Renewal Area Plan was initially developed. Councilors first expressed a vision of connecting downtown parks with pedestrian access to better link the downtown area with city parks.

“We knew we had the potential to do something magical,” Courtney said.

He and fellow councilors helped direct the development of Minto-Brown Island Park and ultimately laid the groundwork for Riverfront Park.

Beyer's first memory of Courtney comes from his work on the council. Beyer said he remembers wondering who the "crazy guy" on the council was who kept getting quoted in the Salem papers.

Courtney left the council to run for state office and was elected in 1980 to the House of Representatives, representing Marion and Polk counties. He was in the House from 1981 to 1984, when he lost a primary bid for Oregon's 5th District seat in the U.S. House.

After a four-year break that included an unsuccessful bid for the Oregon Senate, he returned to the Oregon House. It was there that he and Beyers first worked together. Beyer was a freshman lawmaker in 1991, and Courtney was the minority leader. Both would join the Oregon Senate in 1998.

Mental health, sports and earthquake safety among his priorities

Five years later, Courtney was elected Senate president, keeping the job for a record 20 years.

During his tenure, he championed causes ranging from mental health to sports to animal rights.

He vowed after taking a 2004 tour of the Oregon State Hospital grounds and seeing a room full of neglected copper urns to return cremains to families and build a memorial to honor the forgotten. A memorial was dedicated in 2014, and the state hospital has since reunited more than 1,000 cremains with families.

He was the chief sponsor in 2007 of a bill for physical education requirements in schools. Courtney loved all sports, never hesitating to use a sports analogy in the political arena. He would call sports columnists and coaches at the University of Oregon or Oregon State University just to talk sports.

Courtney also led efforts to retrofit schools and emergency facilities for seismic activity and pushed for State Capitol renovations. The Capitol is in the middle of a multiyear $465 million construction project to prepare the 1938 building and its 1977 addition in case of an earthquake. The project is expected to be completed before the next legislative session.

"Peter understood, more than anyone I ever knew, the politics of governing, and how to make the legislative process work," Robin Maxey, his former spokesperson of 11 years, said. "And he did that from a perspective of wanting, every day, to make life easier for Oregonians."

Courtney was a mentor to many staff members

Courtney surrounded himself with committed and talented staff, including several former chiefs of staff who today hold prominent leadership positions: Pat Egan, CEO of See's Candies; Connie Seeley, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief of Staff at Oregon Health & Science University; Phil Bentley, president and CEO of the Oregon Health Care Association; and Betsy Imholt, the director of the state's Department of Revenue.

"It's not by accident that it all happened," Imholt said. "Peter would be the first to tell you that he made us, and we all agree."

His name once was bantered about as a possible candidate for governor.

"People around me were thinking about it and therefore I was thinking about it," he said. "But there never was a groundswell."

He admitted his personality worked against him.

"People kept saying 'Peter's too this, we can't have him be governor. The way he talks and does things, he's different.' "

A savvy political mind and a compassionate soul

Courtney served in the minority for part of his career before Democrats took control of both chambers, an experience that Beyer and Sen. Fred Girod, R-Silverton, both said instilled Courtney with a respect for Republicans.

Beyer recalled Courtney gathering Republican House Speaker Larry Campbell and Democratic Senate President Bill Bradbury in the Democratic caucus room in 1993, forcing the two to reach a deal and conclude the then-longest legislative session in history.

"We wouldn't have got out of there for another few weeks if he hadn't done that," Beyer said. "He just knew how to do that."

Girod and Courtney were close friends despite their disagreements politically.

"You couldn't be easily intimidated because Peter would throw it back at you and you had to be able to stand your ground," Girod said.

Beneath the dramatic facade was a savvy political mind, a heart for his transplanted state and a compassionate soul.

Colleagues and staff remember Courtney forming genuine connections with people and caring about them outside of the Capitol. He was the first to make a call or a visit if he heard of someone in the legislature in need. He would even call the OHSU president if he thought it would help them access care.

'When Peter left, there was a big power vacuum'

Courtney reluctantly retired after the 2022 session. In an interview just months later, he said he hated retirement and didn't want to talk about it. A self-labeled workhorse, he did not have any hobbies and said he probably would not have walked away from the Oregon Capitol if not for the insistence of his wife and sons.

While some believe he may have overstayed his welcome as Senate president, his dedication to the institution and the state was never questioned.

A staph infection in his replacement hip, which required multiple surgeries over the years, nearly sidelined him for the 2020 legislative session. For a month, he commuted to the Capitol from a transitional care facility, where he needed IV antibiotics and physical therapy.

His drive to be there no matter what, and always the first one in and last one out, may have prompted some work-life balance lectures from family and friends.

The off-the-chart tension in his last few sessions took a toll as he watched the bipartisanship he helped create disintegrate. Walkouts and a pandemic blew up a political process heavily dependent on personal relationships.

"When Peter left, there was a big power vacuum," Girod said.

He described Courtney as the architect of relationships across party lines. His 20 years as Senate president was a testament to his ability to hold the chamber together, even in more difficult years.

"It's unbelievable the amount of time that he was elected president, that he could survive," Girod said. "I didn't even survive." (Girod serves as Senate Republican leader for one year in 2021.)

Courtney said earlier this year he had no regrets and was proud of his career. One of the greatest compliments he ever received was from a Republican he refused to name: "Courtney, you're fair. You're fair."

"I think as time has gone by I started to really appreciate that," Courtney said.

Buildings, bridges and campuses with his name leave lasting legacy

Courtney's influence on state government decisions benefited Salem and the Mid-Valley because he lived here. He had a history of sponsoring legislation to address local issues such as the crowded Woodburn Interstate 5 interchange and the demise of the Oregon State Fairgrounds.

He helped secure $12 million in Oregon Lottery funds for the construction of a new Salem Family YMCA facility, then locked down another $7 million for the veterans housing complex across the street later named Courtney Place.

The "taco bridge" spanning Riverfront to Minto-Brown parks also bears his name as does the campus health and wellness center on the Western Oregon University campus in Monmouth. Courtney worked at WOU for 30 years, starting in 1984, as an assistant to six presidents.

Courtney is survived by his wife, Margie, their three sons, Adam, Sean and Peter, and their families, including seven grandchildren.

The governor's office said a funeral mass is planned at St. Mary Catholic Church in Mt. Angel. The time and date are pending. Donations in remembrance can be made to the Salem Withnell Family YMCA or Family Building Blocks.

Capi Lynn is a senior reporter for the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips to her at clynn@statesmanjournal.com, and follow her work on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on X @DianneLugo

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Peter Courtney, long-time Oregon politician, dies