A North Dakota man who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and later served as the state’s insurance commissioner and labor commissioner has died.

Byron Knutson, a Democrat, was elected insurance commissioner in 1976, but was defeated for reelection in 1980. He served in the North Dakota House of Representatives from 1959 to 1963 and served one term as labor commissioner from 1987 until 1991.

Knutson died Dec. 6, 2025, but his family waited until the week leading up to Monday’s Martin Luther King Day holiday to announce his death.

“Profoundly inspired by King, our father devoted his life to public service,” Rebecca Knutson, Byron Knutson’s daughter, said in a statement. “There are still so many injustices happening in our world. Leaders like King and our father are desperately needed.”

Knutson grew up in Harlow in Benson County. He marched with King in 1965 after serving in the Korean War as a Marine, and then the North Dakota Legislature.

“When Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. called upon the nation’s clergy and lay people to support the rights of African Americans and all people to vote without fear of losing their lives, I was ready to do my part,” Knutson said during an interview with Jim Shaw in 2021.

Tracy Potter met Knutson at the University of North Dakota in the early 1970s.

“He was a firm believer in civil rights,” said Potter, a former Democratic state lawmaker.

Potter later worked with Knutson in the Insurance Commissioner’s Office. In 1978, Knutson introduced Measure 4 that was intended to address health care costs, though voters turned down the constitutional measure.

Knutson was among the Democrats who were voted out as Republican Ronald Reagan rose to the presidency.

Knutson was elected labor commissioner in 1987.

In 2011, Knutson and his wife, Bernice, received the first Governor Arthur Link and Grace Link Award for Lifetime Achievement from the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party.

Potter said the couple’s commitment to making phone calls and the “grunt work” of Democratic-NPL politics was “inspiring.”

“They were the most reliable people,” Potter said. “He was an inspiring character, always cheerful, a real happy warrior.”