Kempthorne, a former mayor of Boise, Idaho governor and U.S. Interior secretary, died Friday evening in Boise at 74, his family said in a written statement Saturday. The statement said he had been diagnosed with colon cancer last year and did not provide a cause of death.
His family described him as devoted to his wife, Patricia, and their children, Heather and Jeff, along with grandchildren, saying his “greatest joy came from time spent with family and the people he met along the way.” In the same statement, the family said Kempthorne had “a rare gift for truly seeing others,” citing his habit of remembering names, stories and details.
As a politician, Kempthorne was a moderate Republican. He was elected mayor of Boise in 1985 at age 34, a job he held for seven years before winning the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Steve Symms in 1992, according to the report. During his time in Washington, he authored legislation signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton to end what the report described as unfunded federal mandates on state and local governments.
In 1998, rather than seek reelection to the Senate, Kempthorne entered an open contest for governor and defeated a Democratic opponent, taking more than two-thirds of the vote, the report said. President George W. Bush later appointed him Interior secretary in 2006, and the report said Kempthorne held that post until the end of Bush’s presidency and lived on a houseboat docked in the Potomac River.
Kempthorne’s record at the Interior Department drew both praise and criticism, including on environmental issues. Environmental groups often opposed his nomination as Interior secretary, the report said, citing past Senate votes that they described as limiting federal recovery funding for the endangered wolf, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, and selling off federal public lands.
At the same time, the report said Kempthorne pushed back against White House advisers in 2008 over a decision affecting the polar bear. It said he insisted the polar bear should be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, and that he was prepared to resign if Bush did not back him. The report said Kempthorne ultimately remained in the job after Bush supported him.
Former President George W. Bush said in a written statement Saturday that Kempthorne was “one of the finest public servants I ever knew because he was one of the finest men.” Bush’s statement added that Kempthorne was “considerate, smart, and capable,” and described him as an effective steward of U.S. natural resources.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, also in a written statement, said: “As Governor, Dirk left an enduring mark on our state.” Little said that with help from Kempthorne’s wife, Patricia, he “championed children and families, strengthened public education, and led transformational investments in our transportation system that will benefit Idahoans for generations.”
After leaving the federal government, Kempthorne became the chief executive of a trade association of life insurance companies, the report said. In a 2023 question-and-answer session at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Kempthorne recalled helping evacuate nearly 400 U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan two years earlier, after the U.S. military’s withdrawal, as many were being sought by the Taliban.
Kempthorne described how the evacuation effort involved raising money and securing diplomatic support to charter buses and an Airbus A340 to resettle evacuees in the United States and Canada. He said that even after the flight was full, organizers received a list of additional people who needed to leave urgently.
“That night, at a total loss for answers, alone, I knelt in prayer,” Kempthorne recalled. “I said, ‘Dear God, we cannot leave these people behind, please give a path forward.’ ” He said he then had a vision of Mother Mary holding the infant Jesus, and that it led him to an idea about adjusting seats so more people could be added, which the organizers confirmed with the airline.
The report said Kempthorne was born in San Diego and grew up in Spokane, Washington. It said his father worked as a regional representative for Maytag, and his mother was a homemaker who later worked as a secretary for the Legislature in Nebraska. Kempthorne attended San Bernardino Valley College and then transferred to the University of Idaho, where he served as student body president and met his future wife, Patricia, before working in Idaho state government and later in the home building industry.