Edward Anton “E.A.” Rasmuson provided the inspiration for the Foundation. Born in Denmark to Swedish parents, he was 22 when he arrived in Yakutat to do missionary work. He was a disciplined, learned man who studied mathematics, Latin and Greek before coming to Alaska, and later taught himself law, banking and business through correspondence. 

He and his wife, Jenny, not only ministered to the people of Yakutat, they served as de facto medics, self-taught from a medical handbook written by Moravian missionary and frontier physician, Dr. Joseph H. Romig. That book became a prized possession of their son, Elmer, who rescued it amid the rubble of the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. It now resides in the rare books collection of the library named in his honor, the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

E.A., who served as head of Alaska’s Republican Party for 17 years, exemplified the family legacy of hard work, compassion and giving back. These fundamentals would become the pillars of Rasmuson Foundation, now guided by third and fourth generation family members. Jenny, along with their son, Elmer, created the Foundation to honor E.A. and give back to the place that gave so much.