October 1, 2002

Lynden Inc. founder Henry Jansen dies

LYNDEN (AP) -- Henry "Hank" Jansen, who built a two-truck business into a major West Coast and Alaska freight hauling conglomerate, is dead at 84.

Jansen, who endowed a charitable foundation after making Lynden Inc. one of the state's largest privately held businesses, died Sunday morning at his home outside this northwestern Washington state town.

The company, now based in Seattle, has 1,400 employees and includes eight businesses, including marine, trucking and air divisions. Earnings last year were $440 million. Much of the business involves shipments to Alaska.

Jansen retired from day-to-day management 20 years ago but still came to the Lynden office three or four times a week, said his son, president Jim Jansen.

One of 12 children born to Dutch immigrants, Jansen moved with his family in 1927 from Litchville, N.D., to the Lynden area, where his father ran a small dairy farm and later a nursery business.

To help make ends meet, Jansen went to work as a driver for Lynden Transfer, a two-truck business owned by Ed Austin in 1945. Two years later he joined with two others to buy the business, partly with the proceeds from selling muskrat pelts to Sears, Roebuck and Co.

In 1954 Lynden began making overland shipments to Alaska via the newly built Alaskan Highway through Canada, and Jansen later added a construction company in Alaska.

After years as a major contributor to area causes ranging from church groups to Western Washington University in Bellingham, Jansen provided $2.5 million to establish the Eleanor and Henry Jansen Foundation five years ago.

A memorial service is scheduled Wednesday in the Henry Jansen Agricultural Center at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds.