June 19, 2022 at 91. Most of his other jobs were as an executive in the forest products industry and
he enjoyed them, too.
He took early retirement in 1989 and since 1993, he and his second wife, Susie, have traveled
extensively in Europe and the Far East. Grandchildren have been the inspiration and companions on
trips in North America. The Cheeks have lived in Camas and Vancouver since 2001.
Cheek worked as a reporter and editor for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane starting in
1950, combined with full-time study at Gonzaga University where he graduated in 1954. In 1959, he
joined American Plywood Association in Tacoma, rising to a directorship in 1964. He headed
American Forest Institute in Washington, D.C. from 1970 until 1979 when he became Senior Vice
President, Public Affairs, for Potlatch Corp. in San Francisco. After retirement, he moved back to
Spokane with his first wife, Nancy (Powers), a native of that city, who later died of cancer.
Cheek worked as a consultant on government affairs until 1996 when he moved to Mill Creek,
WA with Susie. The Pacific Science Center and Kaiser Aluminum were among his clients, and he
also served for two years on the Congressional Commission on Children and Family.
He was active in politics, working as a staff member on the 1968 campaign of Sen. Warren G.
Magnuson and taking an active part in several campaigns for Rep. Thomas S. Foley. He received
awards as a journalist and at AFI won two Silver Anvils, the highest award of the Public Relations
Society of America. In 1979, he was honored by Gonzaga University as an Outstanding Alumnus.
Born in Seattle, Cheek grew up there and in various towns of interior Alaska when it was a
territory, maintaining friendships there until his death. As a young man he worked as a gold miner
and trapper, publishing a book about those years in 2006 — to the relief of his family, who had heard
those stories often enough. Susie especially endeared herself by cheerfully accompanying him, with
only rare complaints, on annual trips into the Alaskan bush where she fished with enthusiasm,
camped out with good humor, and endured mosquitoes, bears and rain. But after ten years of it, she
had enough. She survives him as she survived primitive parts of Alaska.
Cheek was preceded in death by his brother, Richard M., of Portland. Survivors include four
children of his first marriage: Allison A. Davis of San Francisco; David G. Cheek (Miwa) of Tokyo;
Jennifer T. Pantaleon (Guy) of Pacifica, CA; and Sarah E. Cheek of Fairbanks. A grandson, Jake,
lives in Fairbanks; a granddaughter, Cody, in San Francisco; and a sister-in-law, Helen, and various
nieces and nephews in the Portland area. In addition, Cheek leaves a stepson, Ryan Jeynes (Rachel)
of Vancouver and stepdaughter, Sara Wilson (Charlie) of Sherwood, OR.
And then there are the four outstanding grandchildren known as the Fab Four who provided
his best job: Josephine and Raines Wilson and William and Maxx Jeynes. With the addition of Zach
and Savannah Wilson, they then became The Super Six.
Written and prepared by George C. Cheek
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