Gene Farnum, an NCSL founder, dies.

The National Conference of State Legislatures lost a founder and a friend when Eugene Farnum, the first NCSL staff chair, died Oct. 15 in Michigan.

Farnum, 66, was an architect of the merger of three legislative organizations that became the National Conference of State Legislatures in 1972. "We met in hotels and airports all over the country for a year," he said in discussing the creation of NCSL. And when it was accomplished, he became the organization's first staff vice president, a position that today is staff chair, and a member of NCSL's executive committee. At the time, Farnum had been staff chair of one of the predecessor organizations.

Farnum had an illustrious career in the Michigan Legislature. He was director of the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, the well-respected research office of the powerful Appropriations Committee, for more than 12 years, serving under both Republican and Democratic majorities. That position inspired him to work on the development of the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Officers (NALFO) at NCSL, which today is one of the Conference's most active legislative staff organizations. In Michigan, he also served as secretary of the Senate, executive assistant to the Senate minority leader and division director of the Michigan Department of Treasury for Investments and Bonding. Farnum's interest in the legislature came naturally. His father, Billie Sunday Farnum, was a respected state senator for whom the Michigan Senate office building is named.

"Gene was important to NCSL as a founder and someone who made outstanding and lasting contributions to the organization," said Bill Pound, executive director of NCSL. "He was instrumental in establishing the role of legislative staff in the governance of NCSL. As a legislative staff member and in his later career in government relations, Gene was a strong supporter of a strong legislative institution. We will miss him."

Gary Olson, the current director of the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency,

is NCSL's immediate-past staff chair. "The Senate Fiscal Agency has been well-respected for many years, and Gene Farnum established the basis for that respect. His leadership during the 12-plus years he was here set the stage for what this office is today," Olson said.

During Farnum's 42-year career, he was also president of a major multi-client governmental consulting firm in Lansing. At the time of his death, he was executive director of the Michigan Association of Health Plans.