LINCOLN — Former State Sen. Don Wesely, who also served four years as Lincoln mayor and several years as a lobbyist, is being remembered as a prolific political leader on health issues who worked hard to build and retain relationships.

As mayor from 1999-2003, he spearheaded the development of Haymarket Park, the public and private partnership on a baseball stadium that served as a spark for the later development of Lincoln’s historic Haymarket District and Pinnacle Bank Arena.

He passed 330 bills during his 20 years in the Nebraska Legislature from 1979-99. Yet, unlike some, he kept in touch with past colleagues, organizing lunch gatherings and calling one former legislator, Tom Vickers, on his 89th birthday earlier this month.

“He was the ringleader .. the connecting tissue to keep present the relationships that had begun, in my case, almost most 50 years ago,” said former State Sen. David Landis of Lincoln.

Wesely was found dead Wednesday morning at his Lincoln home. He was 70.

Young Guns

He was among a group of young, ambitious Democrats elected in 1978 that included Landis, Chris Beutler, Vard Johnson and Peter Hoagland. At the time, Wesely was 24 and a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was the third youngest person elected state senator.

Colleagues said he would be remembered not only for his thoughtfulness, but for his prolific work, especially during 14 years as chairman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.

John Lindsay, who served with Wesely in the Legislature and later worked with him at the lobbying firm of O’Hara Lindsay Government Relations, said many of the laws Wesely got passed are still working to improve the state’s health care systems.

One, he said, requires a state review of proposed legislation concerning changes in “scope of practice” for medical professionals, a review that quelled a lot of turf battles between such professionals.

Another law, Lindsay said, set up the state’s health care cash fund, which was built using proceeds from the landmark 1998 lawsuit settlement with the nation’s tobacco companies. Many states, he said, immediately spent their settlement funds, but Nebraska spread out the distribution of its millions and earmarked it only for health projects.

“He was very forward looking,” Lindsay said “He was interested in policy … long-term policy.”

Experienced Hand

Wesely, he said, was among a group of lobbyists who gathered socially Tuesday evening, prior to Wednesday’s blizzard. Lindsay said he was not aware of any health issues with his colleague, who had recently moved to emeritus status to enjoy retirement.

For a new state senator, he recently compiled a list of all the chairs of the Legislature’s “Enrollment and Review Committee” going back to the 1930s. That job is a mostly perfunctory role given to the youngest incoming state senator, Lindsay said.

It is designed to get them acquainted with talking on the floor of the Legislature. Both Wesely and Lindsay once served as E&R chief.

Wesely, who was born in David City and proud of his Czech heritage, was planning a trip to Prague in the Czech Republic, Lindsay said. He especially enjoyed spending time with his three children and grandchildren.

“He wanted to just do whatever you do when you retire, when you don’t have that pressure of being on the job,” Lindsay said.

Helped Change Lincoln

Current Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said Wesely’s impact on the state’s second largest city was “profound.”

“He worked to strengthen Lincoln’s infrastructure, support neighborhood revitalization and expand opportunities for families and businesses,” she said in a statement. “His leadership helped shape the Lincoln we know today.”

Landis said that prior to Wesely’s arrival as mayor, there was a feeling that “we were just used to having Lincoln be just as it was yesterday and like it was the last decade.”

Wesely, he said, decided “we can make some things happen here” and put the city on a more forward-looking trajectory.

Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democrat Party, said the state had lost “a fierce advocate and a mentor to so many” who “cared deeply about Nebraska.”

“Don led with kindness and compassion, always looking out for the underdog,” Kleeb said. “As Mayor, he put Democrats on a path to win elections up and down the ballot in Lincoln.”

Attorney General Mike Hilgers, a Republican and former state senator, took to X to say that Wesely was a fixture around the State Capitol for nearly 50 years, and was “unfailingly kind and thoughtful.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/03/19/wesely-remembered-as-thoughtful-...