Loren Parks

Loren Ernest Parks (July 27, 1926 – October 13, 2023) was an American businessman from the state of Nevada. He previously lived in Oregon, from 1957 to 2002, and was the biggest political contributor in the history of that state. He financed numerous ballot measure initiative petitions and campaigns from the mid-1990s. He also contributed heavily to races for prominent offices by his attorney, Kevin Mannix, a frequent chief petitioner of ballot campaigns.

Early life Loren Ernest Parks was born in Wichita, Kansas, on July 27, 1926. having studied at five different universities. He spoke several languages.

Parks started a business while living in Aloha, Oregon, in the Portland area. He founded Parks Medical Electronics in 1961. The business sold a number of instruments, including a plethysmograph, which measures the blood flow to sexual organs and is used in treating sexual dysfunction and assessing the arousal of sex offenders. Parks made contributions to uphold the Oregon Death with Dignity Act in 1997. In 2008, Parks was the source of over half the money used to qualify ballot measures for the statewide ballot. None of the measures he supported in that year was successful. In March 2014, Parks gave a $30,000 donation to Greg Barreto (R) of Cove, Oregon towards his campaign for Oregon state legislature. That donation was returned in April.

Later life and death In 2001, a former employee filed a sexual harassment complaint and lawsuit against Parks. Parks moved from Oregon to Henderson, Nevada, in 2002.