MDN File Photo Edward Lone Fight, center, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation) was among those breaking ground for the new Fort Berthold Community College campus (now Nueta, Hidatsa, Sahnish College) in New Town in May 1990. From the left are Clare Aubol, mayor of New Town; Dr. Herbert Wilson, New Town, member of the college’s Capital Campaign honorary committee; Lone Fight; Phyllis Howard, college president; and Joan Hilleren, New Town, member of the college’s board of directors.

NEW TOWN – Edward Lone Fight, who served as chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation) from the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, died Saturday, Nov. 1, in a Stanley hospital.

Lone Fight was first elected chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes in the March 1987 general election, according to the March 11, 1987, edition of The Minot Daily News.

Accomplishments of Lone Fight’s administration include ground breaking for the new Fort Berthold Community College campus (now Nueta, Hidatsa, Sahnish College) in northeast New Town, repatriation, and funding renal dialysis work and a number of other programs and facilities on the Fort Berthold Reservation, according to The Minot Daily News files.

During his administration the final negotiations were completed for the Just Compensation bill and it was introduced based on the findings of the Joint Tribal Advisory Committee (JTAC) for lands lost to the Garrison Diversion Project.

In July 1987, a U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger, including Rep. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, was held in New Town to hear testimony by Lone Fight and others on the need for expanded medical facilities on Fort Berthold Reservation according to the July 11, 1987, edition of The Minot Daily News.

“Tribal chairman Ed Lone Fight said the Joint Tribal Advisory Committee recommended Indian Health Services construct, operate and maintain a primary health care facility on Fort Berthold that would emphasize the prevention and treatment of obstetric-, dialysis-, alcohol- and diabetes-related problems among the Indian people of Fort Berthold. The cost estimate for this modest facility is approximately $3 million to build and $1.5 million to equip,” The Minot Daily News reported Lone Fight testified.

In February 1989, Lone Fight, as tribal chairman, was picked as Bush administration adviser on Indian matters. In 1989, he also was elected Aberdeen, South Dakota, area vice president of the National Congress of American Indians, an organization of which the Three Affiliated Tribes were among the founding members in 1944.

During his tenure as tribal chairman, the reservation again published a newspaper, plans were reviewed for establishing a high stakes casino-motel resort area west of New Town, and better service was sought for farmers on tribal lands, according to The Minot Daily News files.

Langhans Funeral Home, Parshall, is in charge of funeral arrangements.