Former Ocean Shores City Council member and local activist Gordon Broadbent passed away Saturday, Aug. 31, at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. He had been hospitalized for about three weeks and was being treated for respiratory difficulties. He was 75.

An Army veteran who worked most of his professional career at Boeing, he and his wife, Lillian, bought property in Ocean Shores nearly 40 years ago and have operated Gordon’s Antiques here since 2004. In 2010, he was appointed to the City Council. He was defeated in the 2011 election, which saw all of the incumbent council members ousted, then was elected in 2013. He did not seek re-election in 2017.

He was a local activist who is remembered for, among many things, hosting the first discussion about saving the Weatherwax property, at a meeting at the Broadbent’s home in 1998. Hundreds eventually became involved in a 17-year struggle against development and in favor of finding some way to preserve the 120-acre forest and wetlands area in the middle of Ocean Shores. Finally, in 2016, the battle was won when the Washington Department of Ecology, the City Ocean Shores and the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust completed an agreement establishing a wetlands mitigation bank as a preservation and funding mechanism.

Broadbent is survived by his wife, Lillian, of Ocean Shores, and his son, Doug, and granddaughters Hanna and Emily, all of Seattle. An announcement of a celebration of life will made soon.