Royce Pollard, former mayor of ‘America’s Vancouver,’ dies at 85

Known for his strong opinions and willingness to fight for his city, former longtime Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard died Monday. He was 85 years old.

“I believe his greatest accomplishment was giving our community a stronger sense of self. … In many ways, he woke us up and opened our eyes to our potential and possibilities,” Former Vancouver City Manager Pat McDonnell wrote in 2010.

Pollard was first elected Vancouver mayor in 1995 and served until 2010.

Pollard embraced “America’s Vancouver,” and under his boisterous leadership, the city grew from the 11th largest in the state to the fourth.

“His contributions have left a lasting impact on the city,” Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle said.

Pollard was born in Burlington, Vt., and joined the Army in 1961.

In 1965, he married Margaret Cooper. They moved 19 times during his service, living in Vermont, Georgia, Washington, Vietnam, Alabama, New Mexico, Kentucky, West Germany, Kansas, New York and Korea.

In Vietnam, he commanded a rifle company and then was the operations officer for an infantry battalion.

For five years in South Korea, Pollard commanded a small, highly classified group that searched North Korea for underground tunnels.

As a lieutenant colonel, in 1985, he was made commander of the Vancouver Barracks.

As Pollard recounted in 2010, when he was told of the transfer, he replied: “Christ, I didn’t know we had a place in Canada.”

“No, it’s along the Columbia River,” his superior replied.

Pollard first began appearing in The Columbian because of the Vancouver Barracks’ Christmas Tree lighting and demolition training. He took on more leadership roles in the community before he retired from the Army in 1988.

He ran for Vancouver City Council in 1989 and won.

As mayor, Pollard built relationships with lawmakers at the state and federal levels. He hired a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and traveled there occasionally to push for federal grant opportunities for the city.

“No one knew who the hell we were,” he told The Columbian in 2010. “People in Olympia didn’t know us, people in D.C. didn’t care about us. I guess I was the lightning rod.”

Pollard wanted Vancouver to have its own identity instead of being known as a suburb of Portland — and he was willing to make a scene to do it.

In 2005, Pollard walked into a Starbucks in Uptown Village and bought two souvenir Portland mugs from the coffee shop. He smashed them on the floor in protest — and cleaned up before he left.

Coffee mugs that say Portland should not be sold in “America’s Vancouver,” Pollard said.

Many credit Pollard for the city’s cleanup of Esther Short Park. Under his leadership, the city also invested in and redeveloped Officers Row.

In 2010, Pollard lost the mayoral election to Tim Leavitt.

Pollard served on many boards in the community — 22 by the time he left office. He also served on the Clark College board of trustees.

In 2010, the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington gave him the First Citizen Award. A Japanese friendship rock garden at Clark College was dedicated to Pollard in 2012.

His wife Margaret died in 2022.

Services have yet to be announced.