Robert Nesen

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American Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy in charge of financial affairs under President Nixon 1970-71. On 4/17/1981 President Reagan announced his intention to nominate Robert Dean Nesen, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., to be U.S. Ambassador to Australia and to serve concurrently as Ambassador to the Republic of Nauru. He served in this capacity from 6/17/1981 to 5/02/1985. A member of the Air-Research Corp of Los Angeles, CA in 1941, Nesen served in the U. S. Navy as a pilot from 1942 to 1946 and was in the Naval Reserve from 1946 to 1966, lieutenant commander. He holds a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering. In 1946-47, he was the owner-manager of Coast Aero Flying Service of Oxnard, CA and since 1948 he has been founder-chairman of the board or R. D. Nesen Oldsmobile-Cadillac, Inc. of Thousand Oaks, CA. He has also, since 1971, been founder-chairman of the board of Nesen Leasing Corp. In the fall 1972 he left the navy and took over a Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealership in Westwood, co-operated by his son. He is married to the former Delta Hudson and has three children. From his highly successful automotive dealership, Nesen made a fortune. Nesen bought the Longview in 1984, a 34,000-acre Grant County ranch that includes a sizable tract of Rudio Mountain. He is one of an increasing number of people from other states who have bought property in Eastern Oregon, drawn by its beauty and isolation. Under Nesen, ranch managers took steps to beef up security, putting a locked gate across a gravel road that hunters once drove to reach public forests high on the mountain. The ranch is not open to hunters who have left cattle gates open, cut down trees and torn up roads with all-terrain vehicles and otherwise abused private property. Nesen allows about a hundred guests during hunting season and anyone who does not behave is not invited back. On the other hand, there are hunters and hikers who have traversed Rudio Mountain for generations, who deeply resent being turned away from what is now private property. The feud became so sever that in 1998 it became a legal dispute.