Former North Dakota Governor and UND Law Alumnus Allen I. Olson Dies at 87
Former North Dakota Gov. Allen Olson, who served one term from 1981 to 1984, died December 26 at age 87.
JEFF BEACH North Dakota Monitor | Dec 26, 2025
Olson, a Republican, served as the state’s attorney general from 1972 to 1980 before defeating Democratic incumbent Gov. Art Link in the 1980 election, the North Dakota Monitor reported.
Olson’s win over Link interrupted a 20-year run of Democratic governors in North Dakota.
“Governor Olson served North Dakota with dignity and a steady hand as our state’s top law enforcement officer and chief executive,” current Gov. Kelly Armstrong said in a news release.
As governor, Olson worked against drunken driving, supported the Garrison Diversion program to use Missouri River water for irrigation and other uses, and saw the creation of the Department of Human Services.
Olson’s bid for reelection was hindered by a report from the Grand Forks Herald in the days leading up to the general election that Olson had not filed his taxes for the previous year.
He was defeated by George “Bud” Sinner, the last Democrat to hold the office.
Mike Jacobs, who had taken over as editor of the Grand Forks Herald a few months before the tip came in about Olson’s taxes, said Olson never held a grudge about the story.
“We ended up being friends,” Jacobs said Friday, recalling that Olson was a regular visitor back to Grand Forks for homecoming events at the University of North Dakota.
Jacobs, in a 2018 column, wrote that Olson “took the loss in good grace; in our many encounters since the loss, he’s never asked me about the tip, and I’ve never told.”
Born in Rolla and raised on a farm near Sarles, Olson earned his undergraduate and law degrees from UND. He served in the U.S. Army as a lawyer. He returned to North Dakota in 1967 and served as assistant director of the Legislative Research Committee (now Legislative Council) from 1967 to 1969, directing the state’s first study of strip mining, soil banks and land reclamation, according to the State Historical Society.
Olson was elected attorney general in 1972 and again in 1976.
Bob Wefald succeeded Olson as attorney general, winning the seat in 1980 when Olson was elected governor. The two campaigned together.
Wefald on Friday said he had known Olson since 1959, when they had participated in Boys State together.
“He was a great governor, a good man, a decent man; very proud that he was my friend for all these years,” Wefald said.
Gerald VandeWalle, a former North Dakota Supreme Court chief justice, worked under Olson in the Attorney General’s Office.
VandeWalle recalled Friday that Olson took on the regulation of gambling in North Dakota, leading to the charitable gambling rules that the state operates under today.
“He took a lot of heat to begin with,” VandeWalle said, but helped create gambling regulations that were enforceable.
After serving as governor, Olson returned to private law practice and relocated to Minnesota, where he became co-owner of a die-casting company in New Hope in 1987. Olson also served as president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota and was appointed by President George W. Bush to the International Joint Commission, which deals with issues related to waterways shared by the United States and Canada.
