Camas Post Newspaper

Camas' Hal Zimmerman dies

Years after his heyday as a newspaper owner and state legislator, Hal Zimmerman continued attending Camas Chamber of Commerce meetings on a weekly basis. His desire to see the city succeed never waned even as his health eroded during the past decade, his peers said.

Zimmerman owned the Camas Post-Record for 23 years, served as Washington state legislator for 20 years and served as a youth minister with his late wife, Judy, at First United Methodist Church in Camas. His enormous contributions to the city and state resulted in the Camas Chamber of Commerce naming him “Citizen of the Century” in 2006.

On Thursday morning, Zimmerman died at age 88 from liver and kidney failure, his family said. The ailments, which arose the past three weeks, came at the tail end of his decade-long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

“I believe Hal Zimmerman was this community’s greatest asset, and we lost that asset this morning,” former Camas Mayor Nan Henriksen said.

Zimmerman is survived by two adult children, Karen and Steve, and six grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Judy, and their daughter, Judi-Jean.

Camas community leaders praised Zimmerman on Thursday for his dedication to serving the public.

Camas City Administrator Lloyd Halverson called him “a prince of a guy.” Henriksen described him as a “real champion” in the Legislature. Camas Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Brent Erickson commended his willingness to freely give his time to help others.

Zimmerman and his wife moved to Camas in 1957 after purchasing the Camas-Washougal Post-Record. They owned the newspaper until 1980, when they sold it to Eagle Newspapers. Zimmerman, a 1947 University of Washington graduate, was inducted into the university’s Communications Alumni Hall of Fame in 2009.

Zimmerman’s love of writing stayed with him long after he left the newspaper business. He wrote two family histories for his six grandchildren. The first, “Grandpa Zim’s Memories,” covered his life from 1923 to 2001. The second, “Remembering Three Families,” told the story of his family, his wife’s family and his mother’s family.

Aron Nels Steinke: Article in the Camas Post Record

My favorite part about doing readings like this is whenever I have panels with sound effects I choose not to make the sounds and then I can hear the kids from a distance say them to themselves. It's an incredibly satisfying experience. Especially here where the third panel implies a "lock" sound. Kids actually say it even though it's not there. After the assembly I got interviewed by an eighth grader, Reesab Pathak, for the school's morning bulletin. He was also asked to do a write-up for the Camas Post-Record newspaper about the event. You can read it here , although there was some confusion about my education. To clarify, I got my 2-d animation certificate from The Vancouver Film School and I got my Bachelors in Arts and Letters from Portland State. Reesab I wish you all the best luck. Thanks for the interview.

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