Richard Nelson "Oz" Griebel (June 21, 1949 – July 29, 2020) was an American banker, lawyer, and political candidate. He ran as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

primary candidate in the

2010 Connecticut gubernatorial election The 2010 Connecticut gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010, to elect the 88th Governor of Connecticut. Incumbent Republican Governor Jodi Rell had announced in a press conference in Hartford on November 9, 2009, that she would no ...

, and as an independent in the 2018 gubernatorial election.

Early life and education

Richard Nelson Griebel was born in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

. His nickname, "Oz", was a reference to his middle name being the same as the surname of the Nelson family on ''

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...

''. Griebel graduated in 1971 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and football for the

Dartmouth Big Green The Dartmouth College Big Green are the varsity and club athletic teams representing Dartmouth College, an American university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

. In 1970, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the

Harwich Mariners The Harwich Mariners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Harwich, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Mariners play their home games at Whitehouse Fiel ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

, establishing a league record for innings pitched in a season with 110. Griebel also earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

in 1977. The Dartmouth baseball team represented

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

in the 1970 College World Series.

Professional

Griebel was a teacher and coach at

Worcester Academy Worcester Academy is a private school in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is the oldest educational institution founded in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the oldest day-boarding schools in the United States. A coeducational prepara ...

. He served as CEO at

BankBoston BankBoston was a bank based in Boston, Massachusetts, which was created by the 1996 merger of Bank of Boston and BayBank. One of its predecessor banks started in 1784, but the merged BankBoston was short-lived, being acquired by Fleet Bank in 19 ...

Connecticut from 1993 to 1999. Beginning in 2001, Griebel served as president and CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance, leading the economic development efforts of the

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

region. Griebel sat on the corporate boards of MacDermid, Inc., Tallan, Inc., and World Business Capital. Griebel was named by the

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

and Hartford Business Journal as "Business Person of the Year" in 1995 and 2001, respectively.

Political career

Griebel announced his candidacy for

Governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Connecticu ...

on January 28, 2010. After declaring his candidacy, Griebel met with thousands of Republican activists and participated in several debates and forums. Some of Griebel's opponents had focused on the fact that as a Republican candidate, he had made numerous donations to Democratic politicians, and as a result of this, his legitimacy as a Republican candidate for governor had been under scrutiny. His campaign's first television commercial began airing on April 23, 2010. In the Republican primary, held on August 10, 2010, Griebel lost the gubernatorial nomination to former ambassador to Ireland

Tom Foley Thomas Stephen Foley (March 6, 1929 – October 18, 2013) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995. A member of the Democratic Party, Foley represent ...

. On December 21, 2017, Griebel announced that he would make an independent run for governor in 2018, along with his running mate Monte Frank, an attorney from

Newtown, Connecticut Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 censu ...

. Griebel, at that juncture a former Republican was registered as Unaffiliated. Frank a former Democrat was registered as Unaffiliated. In the general election he placed in third behind Republican nominee

Bob Stefanowski Robert Vincent Stefanowski (born May 21, 1962) is an American business executive and politician. Born and raised in North Haven, Connecticut, he is a former business executive of General Electric, 3i Group plc, UBS, and Dollar Financial Group. ...

and winner

Ned Lamont Edward Miner Lamont Jr. (born January 3, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 89th governor of Connecticut. He has served in this position since January 9, 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Greenwi ...

, the Democratic nominee. Griebel earned 3.89% of the vote and had been called a

spoiler candidate Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate. Vote spl ...

for Stefanowski who lost narrowly to Lamont.

Civic participation

Griebel served on the boards of the Annual Fund of the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

of the

Central Naugatuck Valley The Central Naugatuck Valley is a region of Connecticut in New Haven and Litchfield counties located approximately northeast of New York City and southwest of Boston, United States. The region comprises 13 towns: Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Ches ...

Bradley International Airport Bradley International Airport is a public international airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, it is the second-largest airport in New England. The airport is about halfw ...

, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board, Junior Achievement of Central Connecticut, the

Mark Twain House The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. It was designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and built in the American High Gothic style. Clemens b ...

, Northwest Catholic High School, Riverfront Recapture, the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

, the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

, the Waterbury Foundation, and

Yale-New Haven Hospital Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System. YNHH includes the 168-bed Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, the 201-bed Yale New Have ...

Personal life

Griebel resided in Hartford and had three children. On July 21, 2020, Griebel was hit by a car while jogging in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He died from complications of his injuries on July 29.

References

External links

MetroHartford AllianceOz Griebel's campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griebel, Oz 1949 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American bankers Baseball players from New Jersey Businesspeople from Hartford, Connecticut Businesspeople from New Jersey Candidates in the 2010 United States elections Candidates in the 2018 United States elections Connecticut Independents Connecticut Republicans Dartmouth Big Green baseball players Dartmouth College alumni Harwich Mariners players Pedestrian road incident deaths People from Camden, New Jersey People from Simsbury, Connecticut Players of American football from New Jersey Road incident deaths in Pennsylvania Schoolteachers from Massachusetts Suffolk University Law School alumni