Regional publications are reporting the death of mountaineering legend and former West Seattleite Jim Whittaker at age 97. We met him more than a decade ago, when the West Seattle mixed-use megadevelopment The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW, anchored by Whole Foods) was named for him.
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB – Jim Whittaker at The Whittaker’s dedication in 2016)
Mr. Whittaker was the first American to summit Mount Everest, in 1963. He and his wife Dianne Roberts, a photographer, were living in Port Townsend by the time the building-naming happened in 2014, but in an interview, Mr. Whittaker told us, “West Seattle is home … I went to Fauntleroy grade school, James Madison Middle School, West Seattle High School … That’s where I got my hiking and climbing inspiration. My parents loved nature and the outdoors – we would go to the beach in Lincoln Park. And then starting in grade school, I would walk up the Fauntleroy hill to Arbor Heights [where his family lived], even at lunchtime, so I got a lot of exercise.” You can read more about his storied life in this Cascadia Daily News obituary, which says plans have not yet been announced for a Celebration of Life.
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