SALT LAKE CITY — Howard C. Nielson, former four-term congressman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 from Utah’s newly created 3rd Congressional District, died Wednesday at age 95.
“I’m afraid we won’t be able to afford an obituary long enough to cover his remarkable life. We will hold a private graveside service in Richfield in the near future. We hope to hold a larger memorial, once larger gatherings are advisable,” his son Jim Nielson, a former Utah legislator, posted on Facebook.
Nielson, a Republican known as the “reasonable conservative,” believed in cutting budgets and taxes, limiting the role of government and getting the most return for every dollar spent.
During his time in Congress, Nielson fought for family values, co-sponsored two right-to-life bills, introduced legislation to study the effects of wine and beer ads on TV, and introduced legislation for requiring warning labels for indecent and vulgar lyrics to be placed on records and cassettes. He also sponsored resolutions calling on Israel to reopen Palestinian schools and colleges.
“What you see, is what you get” was always part of Nielson’s election campaigns.
Nielson retired from the U.S. House after four terms in 1991 to spend more time with his family and allow him and his wife, Julie, to do missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple served two full-time missions to Australia and Hungary and a part-time mission at the Missionary Training Center in Provo.
Before running for Congress, Nielson served in the Utah House of Representatives from 1967 to 1974, including a term as speaker from 1973-74. In 1997, Nielson returned to the Utah Legislature, serving two terms in the state Senate.
During his tenure, Nielson successfully sponsored bills on reelection reform, government consolidation, consumer protection, tuition and salary equalization, and industrial development.
Gov. Gary Herbert said he was saddened to hear of Nielson’s passing. The governor called him a strong advocate for Utah during his time in Congress.
“He was a tremendous example of compassionate leadership, a tireless worker and a brilliant statistician. His life was filled with service,” Herbert said. “He was a great public servant in many different venues.”
Nielson was born Sept. 12, 1924, in Richfield. His father, Taylor Nielson, was a farmer with no real interest in politics. His mother, Zula, served as chairwoman and secretary of the Sevier County Republican Party and a state delegate and is responsible for introducing her son to politics.
After graduating from Richfield High School, Nielson served in the Army Air Corps of Engineers as radar mechanic in Canada and the Philippines during World War II, earning the rank of sergeant.
Describing himself as a “runt” as a college freshman, Nielson focused on nonathletic pursuits, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Utah in 1947, a master’s degree from the University of Oregon in 1949, an MBA from Stanford University in 1956 and a doctorate in business administration from Stanford in 1958.
In 1947, Nielson married his childhood sweetheart, Julia Adams, and together they had four daughters and three sons. For Nielson, politics was a family affair. Julia Nielson served as his campaign manager and his children as his chief campaign workers. She died in 2003.
He later married Donna Esther Brown, herself a widow and the sister of one of his former U.S. House colleagues, Ron Packard, of California. She died in 2015 of bone marrow cancer.
One of Nielson’s sons, Howard C. Nielson Jr., is a federal judge in Salt Lake City.
Before his teaching career at Brigham Young University in 1957, Nielson worked as a research economist at Stanford Research Institute while completing his graduate work. He also taught courses in business, economics and statistics at the U., Oregon, Menlo College and Stanford.
Nielson also worked as a consultant to various firms since 1957, traveling to 49 states and 30 countries around the world. Some of the firms included Hercules, Hill Air Force Base and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.