Former Idaho governor and U.S. Interior secretary Dirk Kempthorne died Friday evening in Boise at age 74, his family said in a written statement Saturday. The family did not disclose a cause of death; Kempthorne had been diagnosed with colon cancer the previous year.
In their statement, his family remembered him not only as a public official but as a devoted husband, father and grandfather who took joy in time with family and in the people he met. They said he had an uncommon capacity to notice and remember names, stories and small personal details that made others feel valued.
A Republican, Kempthorne began his political career as Boise mayor, winning that office in 1985 at age 34. He is credited with helping revive downtown Boise, including negotiating the deal to build a new convention center. After seven years as mayor, he ran for and won the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Steve Symms in 1992.
In the Senate he sponsored legislation to end unfunded federal mandates on state and local governments; that bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Instead of seeking Senate reelection in 1998, Kempthorne ran for governor of Idaho and won handily, receiving more than two-thirds of the vote.
President George W. Bush appointed him secretary of the interior in 2006, a post he held through the end of the Bush administration. During his tenure he lived on a houseboat on the Potomac River. Though environmental groups often criticized him as too receptive to oil, gas and other commercial interests, Kempthorne broke with some White House advisers in 2008 by pressing for the polar bear to be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because of Arctic sea-ice loss; he was prepared to resign before the president backed the listing.
Idaho’s current governor, Brad Little, praised Kempthorne’s lasting influence on the state, noting his work with his wife Patricia on behalf of children and families, support for public education and major transportation investments that will benefit Idahoans for years.
In a 2023 discussion at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Kempthorne recalled helping evacuate nearly 400 U.S. citizens and Afghan allies amid turmoil that followed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He and others raised funds, secured diplomatic backing, chartered buses and an Airbus A340, and at one point found a way to add about 50 more people to a fully booked flight by confirming with the airline that infants could be held on laps.
He is survived by his wife Patricia and their children, Heather and Jeff, and their families.