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The tragic death of Virginia's Lieutenant Governor J. Sargeant Reynolds in 1971 had a significant impact on the political evolution of the Commonwealth. At 34, the handsome young Democrat whom some observers believed was destined for national office, succumbed to an inoperable brain tumor. Andy McCutcheon, Reynolds' campaign manager in 1969 and Michael P. Gleason, a campaign aide, have written a short biography which focuses on Reynolds' public career from his election to the Virginia General Assembly in 1965 to his death six years later.
Contemporaries often mentioned Reynolds in the same breath with President John F. Kennedy. Indeed there were similarities. Both men were born to wealth but were committed to the advancement of those who were less fortunate. Reynolds' grandfather founded Reynolds Metals Company which produced aluminum foil that was used by another family business, the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, as packaging for cigarettes. Like Kennedy, Reynolds attended elite schools, but unlike JFK he did not serve in the military.
By inheritance and conviction the Reynolds family were staunch Democrats. Sarge's father took his son to the Democratic National Convention in 1952 and introduced the teenager to party leaders. Unlike Joseph Kennedy, however, Richard Reynolds hoped that his son would distinguish himself in the family business rather than in politics. After graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holding various positions at Reynolds Metals, young Reynolds decided to enter politics. In 1964 he rallied young voters to support President Lyndon Johnson. The experience prompted him to run the next year for the Virginia House of Delegates. He overcame his parents' objections with the assistance of family friend Adlai Stevenson and Richmond's Congressman, J. Vaughan Gary.
Charming, intelligent, and witty, Sargeant...