Olson, Wayne H. Age 90 of St. Paul, MN, passed away on Friday, October 2, 2015. He was born December 5, 1924 to Martin and Sinnie (Samuelson) Olson in Swanville Township, Morrison County, MN, the 12th of 13 children. He attended District 79 country school and graduated from Upsala High School in 1942. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps - South Pacific Theatre during WWII, flying 25 combat missions as a navigator on a B-24 Liberator with the 530th bomb squad, 380th bomb group. After his discharge, he attended Macalester College, earned his law degree from the University of Minnesota, and was admitted to the bar in 1953. He served Minnesota as a Special Asst. Attorney General (1955) as a trial lawyer for the State Highway Department; Asst. Attorney General (1956) as head of the legal staff for the Welfare Department; Deputy Attorney General under Miles Lord as head of the legal staff for the Conservation Department (1957-1960) and Chief Deputy Attorney General under Walter Mondale (1962-1963). Governor Karl Rolvaag appointed him Commissioner of Conservation (1963-1966). He entered private law practice in 1966 with Mastor and Mattson, Ltd, which became Olson, Gunn & Seran, Ltd in Minneapolis. In the 1970s he served as Special Counsel to the Attorney General and MN Department of Administration in the establishment of Voyageurs National Park, as Hearing Officer for the MN Department of Natural Resources and Pollution Control Agency joint hearings on Reserve Mining Tailings Disposal in Lake Superior, and as Special Counsel to the Attorney General and MN Department of Natural Resources in litigation relating to state jurisdiction in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He represented the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission from 1977 to 1989. Wayne became active in the DFL party in 1947 and was on the National Mall for President Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009. He served on the Citizens League; Nature Conservancy, Minnesota Chapter; Minnesota Environmental Sciences Foundation; State Parks Council; and Voyageurs National Park Association boards. He traveled the US and internationally with the Ullr Ski Club, friends, and family. Wayne was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Clarence E., Ronald W., Gerald V., Bernard C., J. Robert and Glenn D. Olson and sisters Verona E. Stoll, Inez C. Falk, Adeline M. Turrittin, Irene V. Olson, Genevieve M. Hilleren and Jeanette V. Olson; and special friend Thomas J. Redmond. He is survived by many nieces, nephews, and friends. Burial Wednesday, October 14, 10 a.m., Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Lane 2. Gathering of family and friends immediately following, 11 a.m., St. Paul Hotel, 350 Market Street, St. Paul MN. Memorials preferred to the Southern Poverty Law Center.