Edgar May (June 27, 1929 – December 27, 2012) was an American journalist and politician. He served in the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4 ...

1973–1983 and the

Vermont Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-me ...

1983–1991 and he was the elder brother of three-term Vermont Governor Madeleine May Kunin.

Life and career

May was born in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

, Switzerland, and moved to the United States in 1940. He was raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, graduating from high school in

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, and then worked as a clerk at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' while studying at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. During the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

, May served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, assigned as a speechwriter for commanders and staff based at

Fort Sheridan, Illinois Fort Sheridan is a residential neighborhood within the cities of Lake Forest, Highwood, and Highland Park in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was originally established as Fort Sheridan, an Army post named after Civil War cavalry gene ...

. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

with a degree in journalism in 1957. May worked as a reporter for the ''Bellows Falls Times'', ''Fitchburg Sentinel'', and ''Buffalo Evening News''. While at the ''

Buffalo Evening News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

'' in 1960, he investigated the New York State welfare system, and won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, No Edition Time (a predecessor of the Investigative Reporting Prize), citing "his series of articles on New York State's public welfare services entitled, "Our Costly Dilemma", based in part on his three-month employment as a State case worker. The series brought about reforms that attracted nationwide attention." The series led to a book, ''The Wasted Americans: cost of our welfare dilemma'', published by

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

in 1964. He worked in the Johnson administration, including assisting

Sargent Shriver Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family. Shriver was the driving force behind the creatio ...

in operating the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...

and as Deputy Director of the Domestic Peace Corps, which later became

Volunteers in Service to America AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program designed to alleviate poverty. President John F. Kennedy originated the idea for VISTA, which was founded as Volunteers in Service to America in 1965, and incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of ...

(VISTA). May was a consultant for the Ford Foundation from 1970 to 1975, and wrote for ''Corrections Magazine''. A Democrat, he served in the

from 1975 to 1983. He was a member of the

from 1983 to 1991, and was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. From 1993 to 1996 May was Chief Operating Officer of the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

. In retirement May was active in several civic and municipal projects in his hometown,

Springfield, Vermont Springfield is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,062. History The land currently recognized as Springfield is the traditional land of the Pennacook and Abenaki people. One of the ...

Death

May died on December 27, 2012, in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

, aged 83, from complications of a stroke he had suffered three weeks earlier.Regina Ford, Sahuarita Sun
"GV Resident, Vermont Icon Edgar May Dies"
December 28, 2012

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Edgar 1929 births 2012 deaths American people of Swiss-Jewish descent American male journalists Jewish American state legislators in Vermont Swiss Jews Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners The Buffalo News Pulitzer Prize winners Lyndon B. Johnson administration personnel Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Democratic Party Vermont state senators United States Army personnel of the Korean War Medill School of Journalism alumni Politicians from Zürich People from Princeton, New Jersey Politicians from Chicago Politicians from Buffalo, New York People from Windsor County, Vermont People from Pima County, Arizona

Life and career

Death

See also

References

External links