Former Twin Falls legislator and newspaper editor Stephen Hartgen dies at 77

Stephen Hartgen, who represented Twin Falls for five terms in the Idaho House and was editor and publisher of the Times-News for 23 years, has died. He was 77.

His wife, Linda Wright Hartgen, who succeeds him in the district 24 House seat, told the Times-News that he died early Friday.

He was appointed to fill a House vacancy in July 2008 by then-Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and then was elected to the seat in November 2008.

A Republican, he served as the chairman of the Commerce & Human Resources Committee.

Over the years, he served in numerous other community organizations, including as a member of the Idaho Capitol Commission, vice-chairman of the Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council, a founding board member of the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization, executive director of Business Plus, a board member of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and vice-chairman of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry.

He joined the Times-News in 1982 and became publisher in 1989. He left the paper in 2005.

Since retiring from the Legislature, he stayed in the public eye through his columns, which were published by news outlets around the state.

In 2019, he published a book on the Magic Valley, “Tradition & Progress: Southern Idaho’s Growth Since 1990.”

Hartgen earned a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

He also taught at Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota.

He has five children.

Twin Falls real estate appraiser Doug Vollmer worked closely with Hartgen in the mid-1980s looking for ways to rejuvenate the Magic Valley’s then-lagging economy. The two, and other businessmen such as Roy Raymond and Lee Wagner, founded Business Plus some 35 years ago.

Hartgen and Wagner, general manager of KMVT at the time, agreed upon what Vollmer called the “Hartgen-Wagner Rule,” to keep private any confidential information about businesses the group was trying to bring to town.

“Boy, nobody cared more for Twin Falls than Steve did,” said Vollmer, who sat with Hartgen at Twin Falls Rotary meetings each week for years.

“He was a good man to know – to have lunch or coffee with,” he said. “He had the gift of gab.”

On Friday afternoon, Gov. Brad Little released a statement praising Hartgen as a colleague and a friend.

“He was a steady leader and icon of Twin Falls,” Little said in the statement. “A well-educated man, he passionately shared his opinions on important issues facing our state — right up until the days before he died.”