Lavar Cook "Mac" McMillan was mayor of

Murray, Utah Murray () is a city situated on the Wasatch Front in the core of Salt Lake Valley in the U.S. state of Utah. Named for territorial governor Eli Murray, it is the state's fourteenth largest city. According to the 2020 census, Murray had a populat ...

from 1986 to 1990. During his administration, Murray saw the development of several notable business complexes namely the “Sports Mall.” He made national headlines when he was quoted by a reporter, that in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, “it's getting so the white players don't have a chance…I believe we have to do something.” He was subsequently defeated in his re-election bid by his assistant Lynn Pett.

Biography

Lavar McMillan born September 11, 1921, in Murray, Utah and graduated from Murray High School. He was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and participated in the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

invasion of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

and the liberation of the

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. He graduated from

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

with bachelor's degrees in Dairy Manufacturing and

Microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

. Mac then became a partner in Ekins Dairy in

Marriott-Slaterville, Utah Marriott-Slaterville is a city in Weber County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,701 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ogden– Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city was incorporated in July 1999, in a merge ...

and later rose to the position of Plant Manager for Hi-Land Dairy. Mac worked in the dairy industry for more than 40 years.Lavar Mcmillan, "Murray mayor hopeful." ''The Deseret News'', 26 September 1985 Lavar was an active member of the Murray

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

, and received the Outstanding Alumnus Award for Murray High School.

Death

Lavar McMillan died on 28 February 1997, after a 15-year battle with cancer.

References

American Latter Day Saints Utah State University alumni 1921 births 1997 deaths United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of World War II Mayors of Murray, Utah 20th-century American politicians {{Utah-mayor-stub