Lowell Thomas, Jr.
| Lowell Thomas Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 3rd Lieutenant Governor of Alaska | |
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In office December 2, 1974 – December 4, 1978 |
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| Governor | Jay Hammond |
| Preceded by | H. A. Boucher |
| Succeeded by | Terry Miller |
| Member of the Alaska Senate from District E | |
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In office January 23, 1967 – December 2, 1974 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 6, 1923 London, England |
| Died | October 1, 2016 (aged 92) Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Tay |
| Children | Anne, David |
| Profession | Author, film producer, lecturer, bush pilot |
| Signature |  |
Lowell Thomas Jr. (October 6, 1923 – October 1, 2016) was an American politician and film producer who collaborated with his father, the accomplished reporter and author Lowell Thomas, on several projects before becoming an Alaskan State Senator in the early 1970s, and later the third Lieutenant Governor of Alaska (1974–1978). In the 1980s, he owned and operated Talkeetna Air Taxi, an Alaska bush flying service.
He graduated from the Taft School in 1942 and went on to Dartmouth College, before joining the United States Army Air Corps. In 2011, The Taft School honored him with the Horace D. Taft Alumni Medal and Citation of Merit.
Lowell Thomas, Jr. was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter).
He was invited along with his father,Lowell Thomas Sr., by the Tibetan government to make a film there in 1949 with the hope that their reports would help persuade the U.S. government to defend Tibet against the Chinese. The trip lasted 400 days, and the father and son were the last Westerners to reach Lhasa before the Chinese. CBS did not broadcast the resultant film, Expedition to Lhasa, Tibet, until years later, but his book about the expedition, Out of This World, published in 1950 became a bestseller. In 2006, the Dalai Lama bestowed the International Campaign for Tibet's Light of Truth Award on Lowell Jr.
In 1954, Thomas and wife Mary Taylor Pryor, known as "Tay", flew a Cessna 180 around much of the world, logging over 50,000 miles. They wrote about it in their book Our Flight to Adventure.
The Thomas's moved to Alaska in 1958 where they would remain for the remainder of their lives. After his political career, Thomas returned to flying, owning and operating Talkeetna Air Taxi and flying a Helio Courier for research and documentary work as well as flying climbers to and from Denali's Kahiltna Glacier and in the Alaska Range. He remained an active pilot into his 80s.
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