The University of Alaska Anchorage will award Democrat Gov. Bill Sheffield an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the Fall 2020 commencement ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 13.
Born in Silverdale, Washington, Sheffield served in the United States Airforce during World War II, worked as a sales and service representative for Sears Roebuck, and was transferred by Sears to Alaska in 1953. He went into the hospitality business, establishing the Anchorage Inn. Eventually, Sheffield bought out his business partner, expanded his hotel holdings and grew his hotel empire to 19 properties in Alaska and the Yukon territories.
He was elected the fifth governor in 1982, and served one term. During his tenure, he oversaw massive infrastructure projects, including roads and water systems. He pushed through an unpopular bill that consolidated the state’s four time zones into two and is responsible for creating Alaska Standard Time. Sheffield also helped facilitate the purchase of the Alaska Railroad from the federal government and commissioned the construction of Spring Creek Correctional Facility in Seward.
During his tenure, he faced Senate impeachment hearings over an award of a $9.1 million noncompetitive lease to a company that was partly owned by a friend of Sheffield’s, Lenny Arsenault. In 2018, he authored a memoir, Bill Sheffield: a memoir, from the great depression to the Alaska governor’s mansion and beyond.
Sheffield is 90 and lives in Anchorage at a home that has been the location of many a political fundraisers for candidates from both sides of the aisle. He was recently spotted getting exercise at the Midtown Mall.
