George Lackman "Doc" Gunther (November 22,1919 - August 26,2012) was an American politician. He was the longest-serving state legislator in Connecticut history. [1] [2] Senator Gunther represented the 21st Connecticut Senate District,comprising all of Shelton,most of Stratford,and parts of Monroe and Seymour,Connecticut,from 1966 to 2006. When Gunther retired in 2006,he was replaced by his protégéand former campaign manager,Dan Debicella from Shelton. [3]
Born in Bridgeport,Connecticut,he was a naturopath and had studied in Chicago,Illinois. Gunther first served on the Stratford Board of Education for four years,followed by five years on the Stratford Town Council,before being elected to the state Senate. Although he was the Deputy Minority Leader at Large for the Republican Party in the Connecticut Senate,Gunther had a reputation for following his own mind,particularly in regards to the welfare of Stratford. He was instrumental in Connecticut state government reform activities,including sponsoring formation of the state Property Review Committee to oversee state contracts. Gunther served for almost 20 years on the National Council of State Legislatures,and for more than 15 years on the board of directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). [4]
Gunther had one of the longest and strongest reputations for environmentalism in the Connecticut legislature,stemming back to when the movement was known as conservation. While still on the Stratford Town Council,he sponsored the establishment of the first municipal conservation commission in Connecticut;then in his freshman year as state senator,he co-authored the first law to regulate and restrict activities allowed in tidal wetlands. He has been recognized many times by environmentalist and conservation groups for his opposition to pollution and his work to preserve the environment for hunters,fishermen,and the shell fishing industry. In 1975,he toured the ruins of the burned-out Sponge Rubber Products plant in Shelton with then Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso,which led to the eventual establishment of the property as Riverwalk Park,thirty years later. He served for nearly thirty years on the federal Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,and in 1990 helped form the Housatonic River Estuary Commission to develop the recreational and commercial resources of the lower Housatonic River. He spearheaded opposition to construction of a large natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound,proposed by Broadwater Energy.
His interest in preserving the environment dovetailed with his advocacy of the recreation and tourism industries. He supported the revival of the Shakespeare Festival Theater in Stratford,and aided the purchase of the H.M.S. Rose by Kaye Williams in Bridgeport.
Another of Gunther's passions is Connecticut's aviation history. In 2005,he successfully sponsored a bill naming World War II's F4U Corsair fighter,developed and manufactured in Connecticut,as the state's official aircraft,and organized a Corsair Celebration and Symposium at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford for Memorial Day,May 29,2006. Gunther was also instrumental in the state legislature's designation of Igor Sikorsky as a Connecticut Aviation Pioneer,and sponsored a bill supporting Gustav Whitehead's claim to having achieved controlled powered heavier-than-air flight in Bridgeport,two years before the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk flight. Gunther hopes to see the Connecticut Air &Space Center move to the former Stratford Army Engine Plant,when the U.S. Army terminates ownership of the property.
"Doc" Gunther died at 3am on August 26,2012,in a hospice facility in Branford,Connecticut. [5] [6]
In 2018 Stratford named a short access road to Long Beach Park in remembrance of Gunther,naming it "George “Doc”Gunther Way". The street is about 400 feet long,extending roughly from a guard shack to the parking lot. [7]
Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. As of the 2020 census,the county's population was 957,419,representing 26.6% of Connecticut's overall population. The closest to the center of the New York metropolitan area,the county contains four of the state's top 7 largest cities—Bridgeport (1st),Stamford (2nd),Norwalk (6th),and Danbury (7th)—whose combined population of 433,368 is nearly half the county's total population.
Monroe is a town located in eastern Fairfield County,Connecticut,United States. The population was 18,825 at the 2020 census. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region.
Shelton is a city in Fairfield County,Connecticut,United States. The population was 40,869 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is part of the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region.
Stratford is a town in Fairfield County,Connecticut,United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region,and the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was settled by Puritans in 1639.
Nathaniel Wheeler was an American manufacturer and legislator. He became a Senator in Connecticut under the Democrats.
Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport is a public airport in Fairfield County,Connecticut,United States,owned by the city of Bridgeport. It is three miles (6 km) southeast of downtown,in the town of Stratford. It was formerly Bridgeport Municipal Airport.
The Stratford Army Engine Plant (SAEP) was a U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command installation and manufacturing facility located in Stratford,Connecticut,where it was sited along the Housatonic River and Main Street,opposite Sikorsky Memorial Airport.
Stamford-Bridgeport-Norwalk is a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The area is located in Southwestern Connecticut. In its most conservative form,the area consists of the City of Bridgeport and five surrounding towns—Easton,Fairfield,Monroe,Stratford,and Trumbull. This definition of the Stamford area has a population of more than 305,000 and is within the Stamford -Bridgeport-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area,which consists of all of Fairfield County,Connecticut. The estimated 2015 county population was 948,053. The area is numbered as part of the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area NY-NJ-CT-PA by the United States Census Bureau.
Route 108 in the U.S. state of Connecticut,locally called Nichols Avenue and Huntington Turnpike,is a two-lane state highway that runs northerly from US 1,Boston Post Road in Stratford,through Trumbull,to Route 110 in downtown Shelton. Originally called the Farm Highway,it was laid out to the south side of Mischa Hill in Trumbull on December 7,1696 and is considered to be the third oldest documented highway in Connecticut after the Mohegan Road in Norwich (1670) and the Boston Post Road or US 1 (1673).
The Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge carries the controlled-access Merritt Parkway over the Housatonic River,between Stratford and Milford,Connecticut.
Route 113 is a Connecticut state highway running from the Bridgeport-Stratford town line around the Lordship section of Stratford to the eastern part of the town.
Dan Debicella is a former State Senator and businessman,who represented the 21st district in the Connecticut State Senate. He was also the 2010 and 2014 Republican candidate for Connecticut's Fourth Congressional District.
Trumbull,a town in Fairfield County,Connecticut,in the New England region of the United States,was originally home to the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation,and was colonized by the English during the Great Migration of the 1630s as a part of the coastal settlement of Stratford.
The Pequonnock River is a 16.7-mile-long (26.9 km) waterway in eastern Fairfield County,Connecticut. Its watershed is located in five communities,with the majority of it located within Monroe,Trumbull,and Bridgeport. The river has a penchant for flooding,particularly in spring since the removal of a retention dam in Trumbull in the 1950s. There seems to be a sharp difference of opinion among historians as to just what the Indian word Pequonnock signifies. Some insist it meant cleared field or open ground;others are sure it meant broken ground;while a third group is certain it meant place of slaughter or place of destruction.
The Paugussett Trail is a 14-mile (23 km) Blue-Blazed hiking trail "system" in the lower Housatonic River valley in Fairfield County and,today,is entirely in Shelton and Monroe,Connecticut. Much of the trail is in Indian Well State Park and the Town of Monroe's Webb Mountain Park. The mainline trail is primarily southeast to northwest with three short side or spur trails.
The Connecticut Air &Space Center is an aviation museum located near Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford,Connecticut,that is focused on the history of aviation in Connecticut. Founded by George Gunther in 1998 after the closing of the Stratford Army Engine Plant,it occupied buildings 6 and 53 of the complex from 2001 until 2022. It now currently occupies a portion of the Curtiss Hangar and is open to the public.
Ernest E. Newton II is an American politician in Bridgeport,Connecticut. Newton served for seventeen years in the Connecticut General Assembly,serving in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1988 to 2003 and in the Connecticut State Senate from 2003 to 2006. He pleaded guilty to federal felony corruption charges in September 2005 and served several years in federal prison. Newton was released in February 2010 and in 2012 unsuccessfully attempted a political comeback,losing in the primary in a race for his old state Senate seat. He pleaded guilty to three campaign finance violations in 2019,relating to his 2012 legislative campaign.
The 2018 Connecticut gubernatorial election took place on November 6,2018,to elect the next governor and lieutenant governor of Connecticut,concurrently with the election of Connecticut's Class I U.S. Senate seat,as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states,elections to the United States House of Representatives,and various state and local elections. This race's Democratic margin of victory was the closest to the national average of 3.1 points.
The 2015 Connecticut State Senate 23rd district special election was held on February 24,2015,in order to fill Andres Ayala Jr.'s seat after he was appointed to be the director of the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Former Senator Ed Gomes,the nominee of the Connecticut Working Families Party,won the special election and regained the seat that he had held before Ayala Jr. had defeated him in the 2012 primary.
Connecticut's 21st State Senate district elects one member of the Connecticut State Senate. It consists of the city of Shelton,and parts of Seymour,Monroe,and Stratford. It has been represented by Republican Kevin C. Kelly since 2011.