Don Peoples dies at 86; former chief executive remembered as 'Butte's greatest leader'

Don Peoples Sr. shouldered immeasurable challenges during his tenure leading Butte-Silver Bow County. His tenacity and gift for mobilizing and inspiring the community helped lead Butte out of a profoundly dark period.

These qualities and more were cited Thursday after news spread of Peoples' death at home Wednesday night at age 86.

The Butte native led the city-county as its chief executive from 1979 to 1989. Atlantic Richfield ceased mining operations in the early 1980s — a knee-buckling economic blow for a community intimately tied to mining from its earliest days.

National news outlets like The New York Times wrote what amounted to obituaries for The Mining City.

Evan Barrett came to know Peoples during this period, when Barrett worked as a field staff director for U.S. Sen. John Melcher, D-Montana. Barrett spoke about Peoples in January, when Barrett commended the Council of Commissioners for naming a building in Peoples’ honor.

“The tenaciousness that he displayed, the community engagement, the mobilization and inspiring people to do more, inspiration and aspiration to actually do better — it’s a rare form of leadership,” Barrett said then.

On Thursday, Barrett reacted to news of Peoples’ death.

“As someone who had worked for and with Don for decades, as a mentee and a friend, I was shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news,” Barrett said.

He described Peoples as “Butte’s greatest leader.”

Jim Kambich, who worked with Peoples both at Butte-Silver Bow and the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute, has described him “as the man who saved Butte.”

During Peoples’ 10-year tenure as chief executive, the distance runner assembled a task force that led to new mining operations by Montana Resources, campaigned to get Butte named an “All-America City,” and led economic diversification efforts, among other accomplishments.

A Washington Companies biography of industrialist and entrepreneur Dennis Washington reports, "A daring 1985 purchase of a dormant copper mine in Butte, Montana brought that mine back into profitable production and provided resources for other expansion."

Peoples played a key role in shepherding that purchase.

On Thursday, both Dennis Washington and Mike McGivern, vice president of safety and community relations for Montana Resources, commented about Peoples' contributions.

"Don was a great supporter of getting Montana Resources started in Butte," Washington said. "As chief executive at the time, he cooperated in every way he could and coordinated the start-up plan with the city.

"For decades, Don continued to be a very important community figure and supported local projects between Butte-Silver Bow and Montana Resources," Washington said. "Don was a personal friend and he will be missed."

McGivern also praised Peoples' role in restarting mining.

"Don Peoples Sr. was the leader that Butte needed in one of its darkest times," he said. "The Anaconda Company had shut down all the mines, and Don worked tirelessly with Dennis Washington and Frank Gardner to restart mining in the Continental Pit under Montana Resources in 1986.

"All of us at MR are hugely indebted to Don for his leadership, hard work and faith in the Butte community and its rich mining history," McGivern said.

The Montana Resources copper and molybdenum mine remains active and is a major employer and economic force for the region.

J.P. Gallagher, current chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow County, said he’d known Peoples since his own childhood.

After becoming chief executive five years ago, Gallagher came to know Peoples in a different context and considered him a trusted mentor and true friend.

“Don was always there with steady advice, honest perspective, and a genuine willingness to help guide me through the challenges of this role,” said Gallagher.

He said the passing of Peoples is not only a deep personal loss but also a loss for Butte. He described Peoples as a legend who helped guide the Butte community through some of its most difficult times.

“He loved Butte and believed deeply in its people and its future. His leadership and commitment set a standard that I will continue to strive toward every day,” said Gallagher, who added, “I am grateful for his guidance, his friendship, and the example he set. He will be greatly missed.”

Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff Ed Lester said he always felt better after talking to Peoples.

“I don’t think I ever had a conversation with him that didn’t end with Don offering some form of encouragement,” Lester said.

Describing Peoples as one of the nicest people he has ever met, the sheriff said Peoples was an absolute Butte legend and as tough as they come.

“He led Butte out of its darkest hour with heart and courage,” Lester said.

In October, the Council of Commissioners changed the name of the former Montana National Guard armory from the Butte Readiness Center to the Don Peoples Sr. Butte-Silver Bow Complex.

Gallagher offered a tribute then to his predecessor.

“Don was a force for progress, always guided by the best interests of his beloved hometown in a place proudly known as the ‘Can Do City,’” Gallagher said at the time. “Don was the embodiment of the ‘Can Do Chief Executive.’”

At the time of the building's dedication, The Montana Standard phoned Peoples at home for reaction about the honor.

“I’m very flattered,” he said. “Butte is very dear to my heart.”

On Thursday, Don Peoples Jr. said his father deeply loved Butte.

He said proof that the love was reciprocated was shown to the Peoples’ family time and time again as his father’s health declined these past few weeks.

“The outpouring of kindness and support given us reminds us why he loved Butte so much,” Don Jr. said.

He said his father’s college degrees and work experience yielded several opportunities to move out of Butte, but he chose to stay.

“It was just not in the cards because he wanted to raise his family here,” he said. “This is where he wanted to be.”

Don Jr. said his father was a full-fledged family man.

“He really loved his family and was incredibly devoted to his kids, grandkids and great-grandkids,” he said. “We will miss him being here with us.”

Kambich said he learned early on that Peoples was the type of guy who never asked a person to do something he wouldn’t do himself.

“In almost every issue, he was hands on,” said Kambich, “which was why people were loyal to him. Don had a never-ending tank, always full of energy and ideas.”

Kambich said saving Butte was among Peoples’ many achievements.

“When mining shut down in the early 1980s, without his vision and his leadership there would not be a Butte today,” he said. “There’s not enough ink to list his accomplishments.”

About 1,200 people lost their jobs in Butte when the mine closed in 1983, Kambich said. Safeway closed a huge warehouse within the same year, Northwest Airlines quit flying to Butte and unemployment here hit 21%. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County struggled too, having lost its lifeblood copper smelter.

“[Don] was the man who saved Butte, to be quite honest with you,” Kambich said in October.

Butte native Northey Tretheway described Peoples as a rock for the Butte community and for everyone who knew him.

“Don was a good guy, a good mentor and a good friend,” he said.

Tretheway said he and his colleagues with Restore Our Creek, a grassroots effort to restore Silver Bow Creek, would not have been successful without Peoples’ assistance.

“We would have never gotten it off the ground,” said Tretheway.

He said Peoples stepped in because he knew he could help and knew the right people to contact.

“He was always 100% behind Butte and believed Butte deserved the best,” Tretheway said.

He recalled the mining shutdown in 1983 and, like others, credited Peoples for essentially saving Butte.

“Don was the right guy for the right time when Butte was going through its toughest times,” he said.

Don Peoples Sr. was born in 1939. He attended Emerson Elementary and Boys Central, and graduated in 1961 from Montana State University. In August 1961, he married Cathy McGeehan at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Butte. They had four children, 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Meanwhile, Barrett traveled to Texas with Peoples and others to champion Butte’s qualifications to be an All-America City, a designation achieved by Butte-Silver Bow in 1988 from the National Civic League.

“We became known as the ‘Can Do City' because everyone expected us to shrivel up and blow away, and Butte would not do that,” Barrett said.

Commissioner Michele Shea spoke in October about the legacy of Don Peoples Sr.

“A lot of people don’t realize that if it weren’t for Don Peoples, we might be sitting in the middle of the (Berkeley) Pit right now,” Shea said then. “He literally saved Uptown Butte from sure destruction.”