Frank Grant Sawyer (14 December 1918-19 February 1996) was the Democratic Governor of Nevada from 5 January 1959 to 2 January 1967, succeeding Charles H. Russell and preceding Paul Laxalt.
Biography[]
Frank Grant Sawyer was born in Twin Falls, Idaho in 1918, the son of osteopath and state legislator Harry William Sawyer. He served in the US Army during World War II before practicing law and serving as Elko County, Nevada district attorney from 1950 to 1958 and as Governor of Nevada from 1959 to 1967. Sawyer pushed through civil rights legislation in a state regarded as "the Mississippi of the West", regulated casinos through the formation of the Nevada Gaming Commission, and endorsed John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. He returned to private practice after leaving office, and he died in Las Vegas in 1996.