One day Norman Glaser would be digging in the rich soil of his Elko County ranch and the next day he would be wading in the political mire of Carson City where he served six terms in the state Assembly and two in the Senate.
On his ranch in Halleck -- a one-time railroad shipping point 18 miles east of Elko that now consists solely of the sprawling Glaser family ranch and a post office -- Norman and his late brother, Arthur, formed the Glaser Land and Livestock Co. and were named Nevada Ranchers of the Year in 1992.
In the Legislature, Glaser wrote bills that led to significant tax incentives, especially for rural farmers statewide.
Norman D. Glaser, a longtime member and chairman of the Nevada Tax Commission and one of the original leaders of the 1970s Sagebrush Rebellion to gain local control of federal lands, died Monday at an Elko hospital. He was 78.
Services for the lifelong Nevadan were earlier today at the First Presbyterian Church in Elko, of which Glaser was a lifelong member. Burns Funeral Home of Elko handled the arrangements, which included burial in the Glaser family plot at the Elko cemetery.
Glaser, a conservative Democrat, served in the Assembly from 1961 to 1973 and in the Senate from 1977 to '84.
"Norman was as equally at home walking the halls of the state Legislature as he was digging an irrigation ditch," said Elko County Commissioner Tony Lesperance, a longtime friend and a retired professor of agriculture at the University of Nevada, Reno.
"He had a gift for resolving issues. He was involved in controversial issues that had to be addressed, but he handled them in a noncontroversial manner. He put the issues on the table and kept the debate from getting ugly."
Glaser's Senate Bill 398 played a key role in starting the Sagebrush Rebellion, a movement spearheaded by a series of legislative attempts in Nevada and in a handful of other Western states to claim local control over federal lands.
In Nevada, those skirmishes have been most heated in Elko and Nye counties.
Born April 4, 1921, in Elko, Glaser became a third-generation rancher in that community. He was educated in a small red schoolhouse in Halleck, graduated from Elko High School in 1939 and earned a degree in agricultural engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1943.
Later that year, he married the former Nelda Lancaster, who survives him.
Glaser joined the Navy and served in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, Norman ran the farming operation of Glaser Land and Livestock.
Glaser's political career began with a stint on the Elko County School Board before he was elected to the Assembly in 1960. He served as speaker pro tem during the 1963 and 1965 sessions and was chairman of the Ways and Means and Education committees.
Early on, Glaser sponsored the Greenbelt Amendment, a tax incentive for farm owners who had been facing rising taxes from urban communities that had sprawled closer to their rural farms. The legislation allowed farmers statewide to include their farms in a greenbelt and keep their taxes low.
In the Senate, Glaser represented not only Elko but also Eureka, Lander and Humboldt counties. He was chairman of the Taxation and Natural Resources committees and a member of the Finance Committee.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he served on the Nevada State Tax Commission and became its chairman. Glaser also was chairman of the Nevada Environmental Commission and an advisory board member of the Northern Nevada Community College, which today is called Great Basin College.
He was past director of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association and past president of the Nevada Farm Bureau.
As a rancher Glaser won several major awards. In 1992 not only were the Glaser brothers selected as the state's top ranchers, Glaser Land and Livestock won the Outstanding Nevada Ranch award.
Norman also is a past recipient of the Nevada Jaycees Outstanding Young Farmer Award, the Elko Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen Award and the UNR Distinguished Agriculturist Award.
As a civic leader, Glaser was director of the Elko Senior Citizens Center and the Northeastern Nevada Historical Society. He also was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Rotary Club.
In addition to his wife, Glaser is survived by two sons, Steven Glaser and Brent Glaser, both of Elko; a daughter, Sharon Bell of Las Vegas; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
The family suggests donations be made in Glaser's memory to the Northeastern Nevada Museum or the Elko Senior Center, both in Elko.
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