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With nearby destinations including Hamilton Viewpoint Park, the West Seattle Water Taxi Pier and Jack Block Park viewpoint, there’s no shortage of pretty sights in this part of town.

Jack Block, 86, who in his 28 years on the Port of Seattle Commission helped transform Seattle’s waterfront from a rat-infested row of crumbling piers into a destination for massive container ships, cruise vessels and tourists, died Nov. 1 of cancer.

Jack Block, who in his 28 years on the Port of Seattle Commission helped transform Seattle’s waterfront from a rat-infested row of crumbling piers into a destination for massive container ships, cruise vessels and tourists, died Nov. 1 of cancer.

Close to Block’s heart, said his son Jack Block Jr., were projects to protect the environment, including cleanups of Superfund sites at Terminals 5 and 18, and to expand public access to the Duwamish River shoreline.

Those efforts culminated in the 2001 dedication of Jack Block Park on the site of a former creosoting plant at the river’s mouth.