PASSINGS

Guy Hunt

Former Ala. governor

Guy Hunt, 75, who in 1987 became Alabama’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction but six years later became the state’s first chief executive removed from office for a criminal conviction, died Friday at Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala. He had cancer and was frail from gallbladder surgery in late November.

A former farmer, Primitive Baptist preacher and Amway salesman, Hunt was dismissed as a country bumpkin by many when he ran for governor in 1986. But internal feuding within the Democratic Party ranks gave Hunt the election with 56% of the vote.

He became the first Republican elected governor since 1872. He was credited with ending decades of Democratic Party dominance by filling enough committees, boards and other offices with GOP members.

He was reelected in 1990, but halfway through his second term he was convicted of violating the state ethics law for taking $200,000 from his 1987 inaugural funds and converting it for personal use. He was fined, sentenced to five years of probation and, as a convicted felon, forced to give up his elected office.

He was later pardoned but could never restart his political career.

Harold Guy Hunt was born in Holly Pond in Cullman County, Ala., on June 17, 1933. He served in the Army during the Korean War.

Wendell Wyatt

Ex-congressman from Oregon

Former Rep. Wendell Wyatt, 91, who represented Oregon’s 1st Congressional District for 10 years, died Wednesday at his Portland home. The cause was not reported.

Wyatt, a Republican, served on the House Committee on the Interior and later the House Appropriations Committee.

A native of Eugene, Ore., Wyatt earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon in 1941 and served in the Marines during World War II. After the war, he moved to Astoria, Ore., where he joined the law firm of former Oregon Gov. A. W. Norblad. Wyatt was chairman of the state Republican Central Committee from 1955 until 1957.

In 1964, he won a special congressional election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rep. Walter Norblad, the son of his law partner.

While in Congress, Wyatt worked on bills that established the 40-foot shipping channel in the Columbia River from Astoria to Portland. He also was credited with a bill that authorized the $4-million purchase of ranch lands along the Snake River for public recreation.

He served from Nov. 3, 1964, until Jan. 3, 1975, and was not a candidate for reelection in 1974.

After leaving Congress, he became a partner at the law firm of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.

-- times staff and wire reports