Tony Earl, ’61, 1936-2023
Tony Earl, Progressive Former Governor of Wisconsin, Dies at 86
Tony Earl, a Democrat who served one term as Wisconsin’s governor in the 1980s and went on to become a leading advocate of campaign and election finance reforms and a champion of environmental causes, died on Thursday in Madison, Wis. He was 86.
His daughter Julia Earl announced his death to The Associated Press. Mr. Earl had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke earlier this week.
Mr. Earl, a champion of gay rights and a staunch environmentalist, served as governor from 1983 to 1987 before being beaten by Tommy Thompson, a Republican, who labeled him “Tony the Taxer” because of tax hikes Mr. Earl signed in the opening months of his term. His political career ended in 1988 after he lost a Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate to the businessman Herbert H. Kohl.
Read more at The New York Times