By Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities
RICHLAND, Wash. – The impact of Max E. Benitz – the late state lawmaker, nuclear energy and wine industry champion, and advocate of establishing Washington State University Tri-Cities – is the topic of two free, public presentations Tuesday, Sept. 8, at WSU Tri-Cities.
Also known as “Mr. Energy,” Benitz is the subject of a book of the same name by his daughter, Eileen Benitz Wagner, and Hanford historian Michele Gerber. They will chronicle his life at 10:30 a.m. in WSU Tri-Cities’ Consolidated Information Center (CIC) 210 and at 7 p.m. in CIC 216.
They will discuss Benitz’s public service as president of the Washington State Farm Bureau, his political career in the Washington House and Senate, his work with scientists and engineers at Hanford, his passion for the state’s wine industry and his part in bringing WSU Tri-Cities to the mid-Columbia region.
Benitz Wagner and Gerber will sell and sign copies of “Mr. Energy.”
Contacts:
Eileen Benitz Wagner, author, 281-782-2932, eileenwagner@mac.com
Michele Gerber, author and historian, msgerber@charter.net
Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities public relations, 509-372-7333, maegan.murray@tricity.wsu.edu
