Edward Rasmuson

Edward “Ed” Rasmuson, a banker and philanthropist who led Alaska’s largest philanthropic organization, died in December 2021 at age 81. Rasmuson inherited control of Alaska’s most powerful bank, National Bank of Alaska, and guided it through the pipeline boom and oil bust before it was sold to Wells Fargo in 2000. Proceeds from the billion-dollar sale made the Rasmuson Foundation into Alaska’s largest private philanthropic organization. Rasmuson switched from banking to the chairmanship of the foundation. He served on the boards of the University of Alaska and Alaska Pacific University, and as a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Rasmuson is survived by his wife of 52 years, Cathy, his older daughter state Sen. Natasha von Imhof, and his younger daughter, Laura Emerson. He was preceded in death by his two sons, David and Bruce. Rasmuson was born in 1940 in Houston, Texas, the first child of Yakutat-born Elmer Rasmuson and Lile Bernard. Three years after Ed was born, his father moved back to Alaska to take over what was then known as the Bank of Alaska. Ed went off to Harvard, earning a degree in history, but he stayed involved in the banking industry on the East Coast. He returned in 1964 to work in the family business.