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John W. Sears

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John W. Sears
Sears c. 1960s
Member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
from the 3rd Suffolk district
In office
1965–1968
Preceded byHerbert B. Hollis
Succeeded byJoseph A. Langone III
Sheriff of Suffolk County
In office
1968–1969
Preceded byFrederick R. Sullivan
Succeeded byThomas Eisenstadt
Metropolitan District Commissioner
In office
1970–1975
Preceded byHoward J. Whitmore, Jr.
Succeeded byJohn Snedeker
Member of the Boston City Council
In office
1980–1982
Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party
In office
1975–1976
Preceded byWilliam Barnstead
Succeeded byGordon M. Nelson
Personal details
Born
John Winthrop Sears

December 18, 1930
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedNovember 4, 2014(2014-11-04) (aged 83)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceBoston[1]
Alma materHarvard University
Harvard Law School
University of Oxford[1]
OccupationLawyer
Stock broker[1]

John Winthrop Sears (December 18, 1930 – November 4, 2014) was an American lawyer, historian and politician.[1] His great-great-grandfather was David Sears II. He was the grandson of seven time National tennis champion Richard Dudley Sears and the first cousin once removed of Eleonora Sears. Sears was an alumnus of Dexter School, St. Mark's School and Harvard College during which he spent a year as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and Harvard Law School.[2]

He served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1965 to 1968, Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts from 1968 to 1969. He was Metropolitan District Commissioner from 1970 to 1975, He was Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 1975 to 1976. He ran for municipal office and served as a Boston City Councilor from 1980 to 1981. He was a candidate for Mayor of Boston in 1967, Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1978. He was the Republican candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1982. Sears received one vote for the vice presidential nomination at the 1976 Republican National Convention.

In 2012 the longtime party activist defined himself as "an old-fashioned, center-fielding Republican."[3] He died at his home in Boston on November 4, 2014.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1967–1968.
  2. ^ "Our Campaigns – Candidate – John Winthrop Sears". Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  3. ^ "'Mass. moderate' insult has local Republicans wincing". The Boston Globe. January 10, 2012.
  4. ^ "John Winthrop Sears, 83; a vanishing vestige of Boston's Republican Brahmin tradition". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
[edit]
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
1978
Succeeded by
Jody DeRoma Dow
Preceded by Massachusetts Republican Party gubernatorial candidate
1982 (lost)
Succeeded by