Editing Grant Sawyer

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}

|name = Grant Sawyer

|image = Grant Sawyer (1967).png

|office = Chair of the [[National Governors Association]]

|term_start = June 6, 1964

|term_end = July 25, 1965

|predecessor = [[John Anderson Jr.]]

|successor = [[John H. Reed]]

|order1 = 21st [[List of governors of Nevada|Governor of Nevada]]

|lieutenant1 = [[Rex Bell]]<br>[[Maude Frazier]]<br>Paul Laxalt

|term_start1 = January 5, 1959

|term_end1 = January 2, 1967

|predecessor1 = [[Charles H. Russell]]

|successor1 = [[Paul Laxalt]]

|birth_name = Frank Grant Sawyer

|birth_date = {{birth date|1918|12|14}}

|birth_place = [[Twin Falls, Idaho|Twin Falls]], [[Idaho]], U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1996|2|19|1918|12|14}}

|death_place = [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], U.S.

|nationality =

|occupation =

|profession =

|party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]

|resting_place = Palm Memorial Park, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.

|spouse = Bette Hoge

|children =

|relations =

|education = [[Linfield College]]<br>[[University of Nevada, Reno]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}<br>[[George Washington University]]<br>[[Georgetown University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}}

|signature =

'''Frank Grant Sawyer''' (December 14, 1918 – February 19, 1996) was an American [[politician]]. He was the [[List of Governors of Nevada|21st Governor of Nevada]] from 1959 to 1967. He was a member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref name=NGA_sawyer>{{cite web|title=Nevada Governor Grant Sawyer|url=http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1359224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD|work=National Governors Association|access-date=13 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527032704/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1359224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD|archive-date=27 May 2011}}</ref>

Sawyer was born on December 14, 1918, in [[Twin Falls, Idaho]]. He was the son of two osteopaths, [[Harry William Sawyer|Harry William]] and Bula Belle Cameron Sawyer. Sawyer's father was also a state legislator in Nevada.<ref name=UNR>{{cite web|title=Nevada's First Ladies: Bette Norene (Hoge) Sawyer (1923 – 2002)|url=http://www.unr.edu/nwhp/bios/nv1st/sawyer.html|publisher=[[University of Nevada, Reno]]|access-date=July 4, 2015|archive-date=July 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705030251/http://www.unr.edu/nwhp/bios/nv1st/sawyer.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Sawyer attended [[Linfield College]] for two years and later enrolled at the [[University of Nevada, Reno]], where he graduated in 1941. While a student at Nevada, Sawyer was a member of the [[Alpha Tau Omega]] fraternity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Artemesia Yearbook|year=1941|publisher=University of Nevada|location=Reno, Nevada|page=77}}</ref> Sawyer then went to [[The George Washington University Law School]] but left to enlist in the army at the beginning of World War II. After his military service he enrolled at [[Georgetown University]], where he received a law degree in 1946.<ref name=tate>{{cite book|last=Myles|first=Myrtle Tate|title=Nevada's governors: From territorial days to the present, 1861-1971|year=1972|publisher=Western Printing & Publishing Co.|pages=310}}</ref>

He served as District Attorney for [[Elko County, Nevada|Elko County]], [[Nevada]] from 1950 to 1958. Sawyer served as the governor of [[Nevada]] from 1959 to 1967. He was defeated in his attempt at a third term by [[Paul Laxalt]].

Governor Sawyer worked to push through civil rights policies and legislation, a difficult process in a state that had been accused of being "the [[Mississippi]] of the West."<ref name=rocha>{{cite web|last=Rocha|first=Guy|title=Myth #105 - The Mississippi of the West|url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=786:myth-105&catid=130:archives-myth|work=Nevada State Library and Archives|access-date=16 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722132510/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=786:myth-105&catid=130:archives-myth|archive-date=22 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1967, Sawyer co-founded Lionel Sawyer & Collins. For many years, this was the largest private law firm in Nevada. The firm ceased operations on December 31, 2014, with nineteen of its lawyers joining [[Fennemore Craig]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-01-01|title=Closing of Las Vegas law firm marks end of an era|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/jane-ann-morrison/closing-of-las-vegas-law-firm-marks-end-of-an-era/|access-date=2020-07-08|website=Las Vegas Review-Journal|language=en-US}}</ref>

Sawyer died on February 19, 1996, in [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]] of [[Complication (medicine)|complications]] of a debilitating [[stroke]] suffered in 1993, at the age of 77.<ref name=GSObit>{{cite web|title=Former governor Grant Sawyer, 77, dies|url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1996/feb/20/former-governor-grant-sawyer-77-dies/|work=Las Vegas Sun|date=20 February 1996 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> His wife Bette, a native of [[Baker City, Oregon|Baker City]], [[Oregon]], died on September 11, 2002, at the age of 79. They are both interred at the Palm Memorial Park in [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]].

* [https://archive.library.unr.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/213 Grant Sawyer papers, 97-28]. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno.

{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[List of Governors of Nevada|Governor of Nevada]]|years=[[1958 Nevada gubernatorial election|1958]], [[1962 Nevada gubernatorial election|1962]], [[1966 Nevada gubernatorial election|1966]]}}

[[Category:Democratic Party governors of Nevada]]

[[Category:Linfield University alumni]]

[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]