Grandfather, former member of South Dakota Board of Regents, bookstore owner

Les Jensen, 90, former Claremont resident, died August 28 in his home in Ashland, Oregon, of chronic lung disease.

Leslie Ward Jensen was born February 12, 1931 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and grew up in Hot Springs, SD. After attending the University of Chicago, he earned his law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1954 and became a legal editor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he married Mary Margaret Cook in 1957.

In 1962, he returned to Hot Springs to help manage a family-owned independent telephone company. In 1971, he was appointed to the South Dakota Board of Regents. After the Jensen family sold the telephone company in 1978, Jensen moved with his family to Claremont and enrolled in Claremont Graduate School, now Claremont Graduate University.

In 1988, he moved to Ashland, Oregon, where he operated a used bookstore, Shakespeare & Co. Books, from 1990 to 1999.

He is survived by his children, Chris Jensen, of Ithaca, New York, David Jensen, of Boise, Idaho, Erica Jensen, of Ashland, Oregon, and Sharon Jensen, of Mount Rainier, Maryland; and three grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife Margaret.

His Burial on September 10 took place at Evergreen Cemetery in Hot Springs, South Dakota, conducted by Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home.