Lueddemann, Hillman, 1895-1990.

Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1895, Hillmann Lueddemann (known as "Lueddie") came to California as a child with his family around 1900. His father, Frederick A. Lueddemann, eventually became a banker in San Jose. His mother was Delia Hillman Lueddmann. Hillman worked for a time as a sports writer for the San Jose Mercury, and came to Portland, Oregon, around 1915, taking a job with his uncle Max Lueddemann in a realty firm. After serving with distinction with the U.S. forces in France during World War I, he returned to San Francisco, where he married Gertrude Davis (1893-1949), daughter of California pioneer Henry Laurens Davis. Moving back to Portland with his wife in 1919, Lueddemann began his career in business as a dock clerk with the McCormick Steamship Company in 1920. He rose quickly in the firm, which was eventually absorbed by Pope & Talbot, and operated the company's sawmills at St. Helens, Oregon, and Port Gamble, Washington. He built the company's mill at Oakridge, Oregon, served as vice-president and general manager of the Puget Sound Mill division, and later became manager of the steamship division and president of company's subsidiary, the Columbia River Stevedoring Company. Finally he was appointed general manager of all Pacific northwest operations in 1945. During these years Lueddemann was also involved in a wide variety of trade associations, including the Inland Waterways Association, the West Coast Lumberman's Assocation, and the Portland Steamship Operators Association. Later in his career he sat on the boards of directors of Pope and Talbot, Portland General Electric Company, Consolidated Freightways, Oregon Mutual Savings Bank, the Delta Park Recreation Commission, the Oregon Portland Cement Company, and Lewis & Clark College.

After the death of his wife Gertrude in 1949, Lueddemann married Dorothy Patterson in 1951. She was the widow of Phillip W. Patterson, son of Oregon Governor Isaac L. Patterson, and the mother of Barbara Patterson Jacobsen and Phillip Patterson.

Hillmann Lueddemann retired from Pope and Talbot in 1960, but in 1963 Governor Mark Hatfield appointed him to head the newly created Oregon Department of Commerce. The Department, which combined the fucntions of numerous agencies, oversaw a host of activities, including auctioneers, banking, collection agencies, corporations, economic development, engineering examiners, pilot commissioners, real estate, and watch and clock makers. Lueddemann served as head of the agency until 1975 and was credited with strong leadership and innovative management.

Around 1968, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed Lueddemann to serve on the seven person management board of Navajo Forest Products Industries, headquartered at Navajo, New Mexico. His work with the board included involvement in the establishment of a plant for manufacturing particle board.

Lueddemann's civic involvement was monumental. He was Chairman of the Portland Port Development Commission, President of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, President of the Portland Rose Festival Association (for two terms, 1934-1935), Chairman of the Oregon Territorial Centennial Commission, board member of the Riverview Cemetery Association, President of the Portland Rotary Club, and Finance Chairman for the Mark Hatfield campaign for governor in 1962. In the mid 1970s he was appointed to the Retired Executives Advisory Committee of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and was involved in the Commission's study of commercial aviation in the state. In 1948 Lueddemann was honored as "Portland's First Citizen" by the Portland Board of Realtors.

Hillman and Gertrude Lueddemann had two children, Jane (Mrs. Spencer Ehrman, Sr.), and Hillman Lueddemann, Jr. His second wife Dorothy, died in 1978.

From the guide to the Hillman Lueddemann papers, 1903-1995, 1940-1986, (Oregon Historical Society)