Jack B. Olson
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Jack B. Olson (August 29, 1920–July 3, 2003) was an American businessman and politician and Republican from the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Olson was born in Kilbourn (now Wisconsin Dells) in Columbia County, Wisconsin on August 29, 1920, to Jane Zimmerman Olson and Grover Olson. He graduated from Wisconsin Dells High School and attended Western Michigan University. Olson married Eleanor Lang of Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 7, 1942; he graduated from Western Michigan University the same year with a Bachelor of Science degree. Olson enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating and became a PT boat commander, serving in the North Atlantic during World War II. Upon returning home Olson owned and operated Dells Boat Tours and Amphibious Duck rides; serving as president of his family's boat company. He was active in the tourism industry, promoting Wisconsin Dells as a resort town.
Olson was a Wisconsin delegate to the 1960 Republican National Convention and served as state chairman for the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon. During this time he was also the director of the economic development project for the University of Hawaii. Olson served three terms as lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, from 1963 to 1965 and from 1967 to 1971. Olson was the director and official representative on the first Trade Mission to Europe and Vice Chairman of Wisconsin's Outdoor Resources Action Program 200 program.
Olson unsuccessfully ran as the Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin in 1970. He was the United States Ambassador to the Bahamas from 1976 to 1977. A delegate to the 1964 Republican National Conventions, he unsuccessfully ran for governor of Wisconsin in 1970. Nixon appointed him to the Air Quality Advisory Board; Gerald Ford later appointed United States Ambassador to the Bahamas (1976-1977) and to the Citizens' Committee on Environmental Quality and the Committee for Economic Co-operation and Development meeting .
Olson won Western Michigan University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1966. He is a past president of the Wisconsin Vacationland Council.
He died at age 82 on July 3, 2003 at his home following a long illness.
