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Ex-Rep. Harold Sawyer Dies at 83

Former Michigan Rep. Harold Sawyer (R), 83, died April 2 at his home in Rockford, Mich. Sawyer had battled throat cancer since the early 1980s, and his death was attributed to complications from the disease.

Sawyer, a former trial lawyer in Michigan, successfully ran for President Gerald Ford’s former House seat in 1976 and served in that capacity for the four successive Congresses. In 1985 he did not seek a fifth term, but rather returned to Michigan where he resumed his law practice.

Sawyer grew up in San Francisco and graduated from Marin Junior College in Kentfield, Calif. He earned his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1940, then served in the Navy until 1945 when he went into private legal practice. He was the Kent County prosecutor from 1975 to 1976 and was a member of the Michigan Law Revision Commission from 1968 to 1976.

Sawyer is survived by his daughter, Mariya Sinclair, and her husband, John; and his sons, Stephen and his wife, Denise; David and his wife, Elsbeth; Keary; and nine grandchildren.

— Katie Kennon

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