Archives West Finding Aid

Marvin Durning, a prominent environmental attorney for much of his career, was born in New Orleans in 1929. After graduating from Dartmouth College, Oxford University (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar), and Yale Law School, Durning and his wife, Jean, moved to Seattle in 1959. He was executive director of the Joint Committee on Urban Area Government from 1961 to 1962, and served as chairman of Citizens for Outdoor Recreation, an organization which worked for Initiative 215, the Marine Recreation Land Act. This initiative, which passed in 1964, allowed un-reclaimed gasoline taxes paid on watercraft fuel to be used to purchase marine recreation facilities. Durning was also involved with the Washington State Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation, 1965-1967. He ran for state Attorney General in 1968, for governor in 1976, and for Congress in 1977. Following his loss in the congressional race, Durning worked as the chief of enforcement for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for three years, and later as an advisor for companies working for environmental clean-up worldwide. He remained active for much of his life and wrote two books, World Turned Upside Down (2007) and the self-published novel A Journey... Beyond the Baths of All the Western Stars, following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease. Durning died at age 84 on October 16, 2013.