Bob Ray, beloved 5-term Iowa governor, dies at 89

Robert Dolph Ray, a popular Iowa governor who served five consecutive terms from 1969 to 1983, died Sunday morning. He was 89.

Ray died of natural causes at the Wesley Acres care facility in Des Moines, where he had lived in recent years, his family said.

The genteel Des Moines native came to embody the image many Iowans hold of themselves.

A Republican, he was quiet, humble and thoughtful, yet confident in his deeply held beliefs with the courage to act, especially in the service of others.

Ray’s tenure as governor spanned the social upheaval of the late 1960s and the post-Watergate period of decreased trust in government. He built the modern state governorship and provided "ethical, moral and strategic leadership" that was recognized nationally and internationally, said David Oman, Ray's former chief of staff.

"That's how he lived and that's how he led," Oman said.

Ray had been in declining health due to Parkinson's disease in recent years. "It was gradual, progressive," Oman said Sunday afternoon.

Oman last visited Ray a week-and-a-half ago at the care facility. The former governor recognized who was in the room, and he still had a twinkle in his eye, Oman said. He spoke a few words in a soft voice. "The last thing he said to me was, 'Please come back,' which was very dear to me," Oman said.

Information about funeral services should be decided Monday, Oman said.

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Iowa's current governor, Kim Reynolds, praised his leadership. "Gov. Ray's legacy lives on in the millions of people that he impacted as a tremendous statesman for Iowa and our nation. His civility, courage and common-sense governing set a high standard for those who followed," Reynolds said in a statement shortly after his death was announced.

Ray was noted for his empathy and for his defense of the individual. In 1972, he grounded all Iowa Air National Guard planes until the Pentagon paid damages to a pair of Iowa families whose homes had been destroyed by separate military jet plane crashes.

Three times in his governorship, Ray reached out to refugee populations of Southeast Asia displaced by the Vietnam War and other conflicts. Ray opened the Hawkeye State’s borders to Tai Dam refugees in 1974 and Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian refugees in 1977.

Two years later, he helped form the Iowa SHARES charity, which raised more than $500,000 — about $2.1 million in today’s money — in food and other aid to assist refugee camps in Thailand.

“The openness and honesty that characterized Bob Ray’s administration, and the extraordinary moral leadership he demonstrated toward suffering refugees from Indochina imbued state government with a high level of integrity,” said Ken Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, who served on the governor’s staff from 1978 to 1982, while on loan from the U.S. State Department. “He changed forever the culture and diversity of our state’s population and caused Iowa to be seen as the humanitarian heartland of America.”

Even leaders of his own church, the Disciples of Christ Church, were wary of the politically sensitive issue of helping the refugees.

He delivered a speech in St. Louis at the church’s national convention in which he challenged the faithful to fulfill the moral imperative represented by the “Show Me State” motto.

“Don’t tell me of your concerns for these people when you have a chance to save their lives. Show me,” Ray said. “Don’t tell me how Christian you are. Show me.”

Ray also presided over sweeping changes in Iowa government, including an expansion of executive powers, the unification of the state's court system, the removal of sales taxes from groceries and prescription drugs, the creation of tuition grants for students attending Iowa's private colleges, the creation of the Iowa Department of Transportation and the implementation of a new school aid formula.

Ray often selected the 1979 bottle bill — which placed a refundable nickel deposit on containers of pop, beer and wine to encourage recycling and reduce litter along the state’s roads — as his favorite piece of legislation during his tenure.

“Bob Ray was a class act,” the late Art Neu, a Republican from Carroll and former Iowa lieutenant governor under Ray, said in a 2012 interview. “He was bright, likable, honest and smart. He worked with people. You could look up to him as your governor.”

Ray is survived by his wife, Billie, three daughters and eight grandchildren.

A Des Moines native with 2 Drake degrees

Ray was born Sept. 26, 1928. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1946 and enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving with occupation troops in Japan.

He returned to Des Moines, married Billie Lee Hornberger, his high school sweetheart, in 1951, and spent several months touring Europe with her.

Ray graduated from Drake University in 1952 with a business degree. After earning a law degree from Drake in 1954, he began practicing as a trial lawyer in Des Moines.

Ray lost his first two bids for public office: a 1956 run for Polk County attorney and a 1958 run for the Iowa Legislature.

Ray then turned to internal party politics.

In 1962, he was named head of the Republican state campaign committee. The following year, at 35, he became the youngest man in 100 years to be elected state chairman of the Iowa Republicans.

Ray inherited a party in turmoil. The Democrats had a popular incumbent governor in Harold Hughes.

Conservatives and moderates battled for control of the Republican Party. Nationally, the GOP selected conservative Barry Goldwater to challenge President Lyndon Johnson, but Goldwater lost in a landslide, and so did Republicans across the country.

In Iowa in 1964, Hughes was re-elected, and Democrats took five of Iowa’s six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and scores of seats in the Iowa Legislature.

Ray reconstructed the party. He ordered tighter controls on how GOP candidates spent money from the state central committee, which led to more coordinated campaigns in the 1966 elections.

Under Ray's leadership, the Republicans won three of the then-six Congressional seats away from Democrats and elected 88 new lawmakers to the Iowa General Assembly. The massive success paved the way for Ray's gubernatorial candidacy.

From underdog to a force in politics

Ray decided to run for governor in the 1968 election, battling for the nomination in a three-man primary where he was, at times, the least-known candidate. One Republican congressional candidate introduced Ray at an event as “Bob Day.”

Ray’s statewide profile was boosted after he survived a small plane crash on a campaign trip to northern Iowa. He injured his leg and ankle and was laid up for weeks.

Billie Ray made appearances at campaign events on his behalf despite extracting a promise from her husband before the campaign that she would not be asked to make speeches.

Ray campaigned on crutches, and his grit helped him win voters and eventually the governor’s office.

After his election, Ray became a force in Iowa politics for which Democrats had no answer. Even when Democrats gained control of both houses of the state Legislature, Ray continued to win re-election.

“He was very genuine as a person, and people responded to that,” said Clark Rasmussen, a longtime chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. “He still worked with us. Politics weren’t like they are today, with the partisanship. He was always a gentleman.”

Ray served as governor at a time when the federal government was backing away from its massive direction of local affairs. This left the state to carry the load in many areas.

Ray’s reorganization of state government included establishing such well-known state agencies as the Department of Transportation and what eventually would become the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Under Ray’s direction, the Iowa Legislature gradually transferred large portions of the cost of schools from local property taxes to statewide income taxes.

Collective bargaining for state employees started under Ray, and a massive reorganization of the state’s judicial system scrapped the ancient and inefficient justice-of-the-peace network. The move brought all courts under state control and ended the system of municipal- and county-run courts.

In 1976, Ray became the first governor to move into Terrace Hill, an 1869 Des Moines mansion built by a business magnate and later donated to the state.

That same year, he was among five or six Republicans considered as the vice presidential running mate for President Gerald Ford. His name also surfaced as a potential Cabinet member in the Ford administration.

He also was mentioned in party circles as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1974, 1978 and 1980, but he declined to run.

“Ray was an executive,” said David Yepsen, a retired Des Moines Register political columnist. “He didn’t want to be one of 100 — he was used to being in charge; the Senate didn’t fit his style.”

Continues leading in business, public roles

Ray left the governorship in 1983 and entered the insurance business as chief executive officer of Life Investors Inc., now known as AEGON, in Cedar Rapids.

In 1989, he was named president and CEO of IASD Health Services Corp., where he presided over the merger of several companies into what is now Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Under his leadership, both companies posted record gains.

Ray remained active in public life well into his senior years. He served as interim mayor of Des Moines in 1997 and president of his alma mater, Drake University, in 1998.

“We were in the middle of a $100 million campaign, and we needed a leader,” said Don Adams, a longtime Drake vice president. “He was the perfect choice. He was a figure recognized across Iowa, nationally and internationally.”

In 2005, Ray received the state’s highest award for a citizen: the Iowa Award. Ray could have qualified for the honor under at least five categories, then-Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, said when presenting the award.

“We lived through some rough times — they weren’t all good times — but they were, in a way, fun times,” Ray said at the ceremony.

Robert Dolph Ray

• Born: Sept. 26, 1928.
• Birthplace: Des Moines.
• Education: Graduate of Roosevelt High School, Des Moines, 1946; Drake University, business degree, 1952; Drake University, law degree, 1954.
• Political career: Elected chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, 1963. Elected governor in 1968 and re-elected to two additional two-year terms in 1970 and 1972 and two additional four-year terms in 1974 and 1978. Interim mayor of Des Moines.
• Business career: Attorney. CEO, Life Investors Inc. President and CEO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa.
• Civic life highlights: Head of the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association. President of Drake University. Founder of the Iowa Institute for Character Development.
• Family: Wife, Billie Ray, three daughters and eight grandchildren.