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George Lackman "Doc" Gunther | |
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Member of the Connecticut State Senate from the 21st district | |
In office January 4, 1967 –January 7, 2007 | |
Preceded by | John J. Relihan |
Succeeded by | Dan Debicella |
Personal details | |
Born | Bridgeport,Connecticut,US | November 22,1919
Died | August 26,2012 92) Branford,Connecticut,US | (aged
Resting place | Union Cemetery,Stratford,Connecticut,US |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Priscilla A Gunther |
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.
Gideon Tomlinson was a United States senator,United States Representative,and the 25th Governor for the state of Connecticut.
Nathaniel Wheeler was an American manufacturer and legislator.
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.
Bridgeport-Stamford-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 Bridgeport area has a population of more than 305,000 and is within the Bridgeport-Stamford-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.
Nichols,a historic village in southeastern Trumbull in Fairfield County,Connecticut,is named after the family who maintained a large farm in its center for almost 300 years. The Nichols Farms Historic District,which encompasses part of the village,is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Originally home to the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation,the area was colonized by the English during the Great Migration of the 1630s as a part of the coastal settlement of Stratford. The construction of the Merritt Parkway through the village,and the subsequent closing of stores and factories,turned the village into a bedroom community in 1939. Aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky lived in three separate homes in Nichols during his active years between 1928 and 1951,when he designed,built and flew fixed-wing aircraft and put the helicopter into mass production for the first time.
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.
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England,with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Island Sound,it is a port city 60 miles (97 km) from Manhattan and 40 miles (64 km) from The Bronx. It borders the towns of Trumbull to the north,Fairfield to the west,and Stratford to the east. Bridgeport and other towns in Fairfield County make up the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region,as well as the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury metropolitan statistical area,the second largest metropolitan area in Connecticut. The Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury metropolis forms part of the New York metropolitan area.
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.
Andrew W. Roraback is an American politician from Connecticut. He has served in both the Connecticut House of Representatives and the Connecticut State Senate,representing the Republican Party. As a legislator,he was a social moderate and a fiscal conservative. He never missed a roll call vote during his eighteen years in the General Assembly,earning the nickname "the Cal Ripken of the Senate." He became a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court in 2013.
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