Lawrence Marion "Larry" Borst Jr. (July 16, 1927 – December 20, 2016) was an American veterinarian and politician. Borst was born in

Champaign County, Ohio Champaign County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,714. Its county seat is Urbana. The county takes its name from the French word for "open level country". Champaign County comprises the ...

and graduated from North High School. He met and married Eldoris June Wood in 1948 and moved to

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

two years later upon earning a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. He then moved to

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

in 1952 and began his own veterinary practice in 1954. In 1965, Borst became the founding leader of the Republican Action Committee. He served one year, 1967, in the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

, before his 1968 election to the

Indiana Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year terms ...

as a representative of district 36, which included

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

and Marion Counties. Borst retained his state senatorial seat until 2005. He was also active in the local politics of Indianapolis. In 1971, Borst was named to the Mayor's Progress Committee of Indianapolis, and became a member of the executive council in 1973. Borst wrote a memoir, ''Gentlemen, It's Been My Pleasure: Four Decades in the Indiana Legislature'' in 2003. He died on December 20, 2016, at the age of 89.

References

1927 births 2016 deaths Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine alumni American veterinarians Republican Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives Republican Party Indiana state senators Politicians from Indianapolis Politicians from South Bend, Indiana People from Champaign County, Ohio American memoirists Writers from Indiana Writers from Ohio 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians {{Indiana-politician-stub