Julian Sargeant "Sarge" Reynolds (June 30, 1936 – June 13, 1971) of Richmond, Virginia was an American teacher, businessman, and Democratic politician. He served in both the House and Senate of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

and served as 30th Lieutenant Governor of the

Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

under Governor Linwood Holton. He died of an inoperable

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

at age 34, while in office as Virginia's Lieutenant Governor.

Early and family life

Reynolds was born into wealth in New York City, the second son of Richard Samuel Reynolds, Jr. (president and CEO of

Reynolds Metals Company Reynolds Group Holdings is a New Zealand based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquire ...

), and Virginia McDonald Sargeant Reynolds. His grandfather had invented Reynolds Wrap and founded the metals company. His great-grandfather A.D. Reynolds of

Bristol, Tennessee Bristol is a city in the State of Tennessee. Located in Sullivan County, its population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. T ...

had been a successful tobacco farmer and brother of

Richard Joshua Reynolds Richard Joshua Reynolds (July 20, 1850 – July 29, 1918) was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The son of a tobacco farmer, he worked for his father and attended Emory & Henry College from 1868 to 1870, ...

, who founded the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Sarge Reynolds was educated in Richmond, Virginia, graduating from St. Christopher's School in 1947, and from

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 405. Students come from 28 U.S. states (plus the District of Columbi ...

Orange, Virginia Orange is a town and the county seat of Orange County, Virginia. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census, representing a 14.5% increase since the 2000 census. Orange is northeast of Charlottesville, southwest of Washington, D.C., and ea ...

in 1954. He then went to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania to attend the

Wharton School of Finance The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. In 1958 he graduated 9th in his class of 356.http://dela.state.va.us/dela/Membios.nsf/94f6e9b9c9b5678f85256b1b00732227/7f2e3d48514cd62785256d33004e7db5?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,reynolds He married the former Elizabeth (Betsy) Weir Veeneman of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Before their divorce, they had four children: Virginia (Ginny) Weir, J. Sargeant, Jr., Jeanne Elizabeth (Liz) and David Parham Reynolds II (who died less than 2 months after birth). Reynolds then married Mary Ballou Handy Stettinius from Lynchburg, Virginia. They had one son, Richard Roland Reynolds.

Career

In 1958 Reynolds started his business career in the Market Research Department of the family's

. In 1961 he became Assistant Treasurer and in 1965 he became Executive Vice-President of the Reynolds Aluminum Credit Corporation. He also taught economics at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

to help him overcome shyness.

Political career

Reynolds began his political career with the Young Democratic Club, as the Byrd Organization struggled with the end of Massive Resistance. Reynolds first ran for elective office in 1965 and was elected as one of eight delegates for Richmond. In that election after the reapportionment required by Davis v. Mann as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1965, incumbents George E. Allen Jr., T. Coleman Andrews Jr., Harold H. Dervishian, Junie L. Bradshaw and Edward E. Lane won re-election, and Reynolds, E. B. Pendleton Jr. and T. Dix Sutton replaced fellow Democrat Fred G. Pollard (who became Lieutenant Governor) as well as Richmond's first elected Republicans in years-- Louis S. Herrink Jr. (who moved to King George) and S. Strother Smith Jr. (each of whom had been elected in 1963 and proved one-termers). Two years later, Reynolds ran for the Virginia State Senate from District 30, again representing Richmond City, Senator FitzGerald Bemiss having retired. Reynolds and incumbent fellow-Democrat Edward E. Willey thus became Richmond's two senators. In the General Assembly, Reynolds advocated establishing the

Virginia Community College System The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) oversees a network of 23 community colleges in Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, betwe ...

. In the 1967 election at which Reynolds moved up to the state senate, among Richmond's eight delegates, half changed. Thomas P. Bryan, Ernest W. Farley Jr., William Ferguson Reid and Richmond's first woman mayor, Republican Eleanor Parker Sheppart replaced Andrews, Dervishian, Reynolds and Sutton. Virginia's Democratic Party nominated Reynolds to run for Lieutenant Governor against pro-education Republican H. Dunlop Dawbarn in 1969, which proved to be a near-landslide year for Republicans. The Republicans concentrated their efforts on electing

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

President and Linwood Holton Virginia's governor (who outpolled Democrat William C. Battle), and succeeded with many other offices on the ticket. However, Reynolds broke the tide, polling 54% of the vote for lieutenant governor compared to Dawbarn's 42%, thus winning the 3-way race. In a 1969 special election following Reynolds' resignation from the State Senate, fellow Democrat L. Douglas Wilder (who would later become Virginia's first African-American governor) won election to represent Richmond in the state senate alongside Willey, thus replacing Reynolds.Leonard p. 757

Death and legacy

Shortly after taking office, Reynolds was diagnosed as having an inoperable brain tumor. Weakened by attempted treatments of the tumor in New York City, Reynolds died of pneumonia. Reynolds asked to be buried at his great-grandfather's boyhood home. Dying in office, he was accorded a state funeral before being buried in accordance with that wish.

J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College is a public community college in Virginia with three campuses: Parham Road Campus in Henrico County, Downtown Campus in Richmond, and Goochland Campus in Goochland Courthouse, Virginia. Named for Lieutenan ...

, which serves Henrico County and metropolitan Richmond, was named in his honor after his death in 1971.

References

External links