A tale of true friendship

In some ways, they couldn’t be more different.

Booming voice, Yankee enunciation vs. soft-spoken, southern drawl.

Coeur d’Alene native vs. North Carolina transplant.

Major employer vs. dedicated teacher.

Business magnate vs. human rights advocate.

Conservative vs. liberal.

But in all the key ways — in other words, improving the lives of others — the late, great Duane B. Hagadone and Tony Stewart could hardly be more alike. Perhaps that’s why for so many years, Tony and Duane liked and respected each other so much.

On the 40th anniversary of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, Stewart, the organization’s secretary and one of its founders, joined the rest of the executive committee to pay tribute to Hagadone with a special dedication. Hagadone died April 24 at the age of 88.

“For decades, Hagadone Hospitality has been a key financial supporter of our annual human rights banquet, and the Coeur d’Alene Press has been a strong supporter of our work with Duane’s blessings,” reads the dedication atop the Task Force’s 40th anniversary newsletter, which is now being distributed. “Our friend, please rest in peace.”

Hagadone was in a position to help or hurt advances on the local human rights front, Stewart said in a recent Press interview. Without exception, he said, Hagadone chose to help.

“The Task Force ... was successful in no small part because of Duane Hagadone and Jerry Jaeger,” Stewart said, referring to Hagadone’s longtime partner in the Hagadone Corp’s Hospitality Division. “We have this wonderful history of doing things together.”

That history included standing together against the Aryan Nations until the hate group was bankrupted and cast out.

“With Duane and other business leaders, we asked, ‘How do we keep the stain off of Idaho? It won’t go away unless we confront the hate,’” Stewart recalled. Hagadone was among the most visible leaders who confronted it, he said.

They stood together in showing visitors the depth of North Idaho’s beauty, both natural and personal. Stewart, who created and ran The Popcorn Forum during his 38 years as a political science instructor at North Idaho College, as well as more than 1,800 programs on area PBS stations, relied on Hagadone and Jaeger to house dynamic forum and TV participants.

“One of the carrots to get them here was to put them up at the incredible Resort,” Stewart said of the local landmark that opened in 1986. “They’d then become ambassadors for other high-profile speakers and guests.”

Stewart and Hagadone even stood together in front of 10,000 people in May 2008 on a Kibbie Dome stage in Moscow, where they received honorary doctorates from the University of Idaho. Hagadone said he was thrilled but “shocked” to get the degree.

“I spent six months at the University of Idaho and flunked out,” Hagadone said in a May 17, 2008, Press article, referring to his youth. “Well, it’s the truth, and that’s what I told the students when I spoke to them last weekend.”

But receiving the honorary degree, Hagadone said, was one of the highlights of his life.

“I was just extremely proud, and I was emotional,” he said. “It was extremely humbling for a guy with so little formal education.”

For his part, Stewart had been well on his way to a PhD at Washington State University but, “I let it get in the background because of work and commitments,” he said in that May 2008 article.

Yet the night before the big event, the friends were talking — and once again, a key similarity struck both men.

Here’s how Hagadone put it: “I was proud to be up there with Tony. His was an extremely deserving honor, and I couldn’t have been more proud that of three doctorates, two came from Coeur d’Alene.”

With Duane, the more glory to CDA, the better, Stewart said.

“He had a gleam in his eye when he said that,” Stewart recalled with a smile last week.

Over the course of their many years working together behind the scenes, Stewart said he saw Duane as most other people never could.

“He was a modest, humble and private man who did not put himself out front but was always concerned about others,” Stewart said.

He said there were times he suggested Duane defend himself, like when Hagadone proposed building a memorial garden downtown that would have required closing a small section of the street in front of The Resort. Criticism of the project, which Hagadone would have paid all costs for, was intense enough that he withdrew the proposal.

“He didn’t fight back, and he could have with his media outlets,” Stewart said. “He let his work speak for itself.”

While Duane is gone, the relationship forged by two seemingly disparate people lives on. More than that, it can serve as an example to others.

“It shows that people who come from different backgrounds and different political persuasions can still be great friends and help others,” Stewart said. “With us, our differences had no effect on our friendship. Never once did it have a negative impact. That’s a testament to true friendship.”