Bob Walsh, West Seattleite known for 1990 Goodwill Games & more, dies at 76

| Obituaries | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Thanks to the texter who called our attention to the passing of West Seattle resident Bob Walsh, reported last night by The Seattle Times.

You might remember Mr. Walsh, 76, best for the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. (The Municipal Archives photo above shows Mr. Walsh at right, with Rev. Jesse Jackson at the podium.) It was the second staging of the international competition hatched by cable-TV entrepreneur Ted Turner as an alternative to the Olympic Games, which had gone through multiple superpower boycotts by then. Before then, as noted in The Times’ report (and this 1990 profile), Mr. Walsh was known for basketball involvement including three years as an executive with the Sonics and promotion of big NCAA, WNBA, and NBA playoff events, and he since has had extensive nonprofit involvement. Sportspress Northwest has an extensive obituary, reporting that Mr. Walsh became ill while visiting the former Soviet republic of Georgia and died in a hospital in Turkey.

K8 January 24, 2017 (4:15 pm)

I remember him & his son Tim when they went to the Daycare I worked at in West Seattle. He was always very kind and respectful. Many kind thoughts to him and Tim!

22blades January 25, 2017 (5:14 am)

What this gentleman was instrumental in can’t be overstated. I remember visiting a visiting Soviet training vessel & thinking the winds of change are blowing. Around the same time, I was flying Berlin Corridor & standing by the Berlin Wall as it came down.

It was actually a hopeful time. Now I feel the winds again but they are with dark clouds…

P.S. Both of the airlines that flew the corridor, Pan Am & TWA, along with the corridor itself are long gone now. ☹️

sgs January 25, 2017 (9:00 am)

Though I did not know him well, I knew several people whom he mentored and supported to become involved change agents in their areas of interest. Sympathies to his family and friends. I had the opportunity to work as an interpreter at the airport during the Goodwill Games – super fun.

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