Lawrence Sanders (born April 29, 1935) is an American-British academic, social worker, politician, and former Health and Social Care Spokesperson of the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; ), often known simply as the Green Party or the Greens, is a Green politics, green, Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ram ...

. He is the older brother of

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and two-time U.S. presidential candidate.

Early life, education, and family

Larry Sanders was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City, to Dorothy (née Glassberg) and Eli Sanders. His father was a Polish-Jewish immigrant whose family was killed in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, while his mother was born in New York City on October 2, 1912, to Jewish immigrant parents from

Radzyń Podlaski Radzyń Podlaski is a town in eastern Poland, about north of Lublin, with 15,808 inhabitants (2017). The town has been part of the Lublin Voivodeship since 1999, previously it was part of the Biała Podlaska Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the c ...

, in eastern Poland and Russia. His father immigrated to America in 1921 at age 17, and supported his family by selling paint. Sanders said that when he was a child, his family never lacked food or clothing, but major purchases "like curtains or a rug" were difficult to afford. His mother died on March 25, 1960, at age 47. Both he and his brother attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Sanders has said they were young postwar Jewish radicals but part of the crowd, not yet leaders. Sanders attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

of the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

and obtained a master's degree in

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He also attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in the 1950s, leaving after two years to care for his sick mother. He returned after 35 years and completed his J.D. degree there in 1994. Sanders immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1968 or 1969. He became a university lecturer, first at the

University of West London The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860 when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Colleg ...

and later at Oxford in the Department of Social Administration. His son, Jacob Edward "Jake" Sanders (born November 26, 1968), was elected to Oxford City Council in 2000 and was a

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

parliamentary candidate in the Oxford East constituency at the 2005 general election.

Political career

Sanders was active in the Labour Party in Oxford in the 1980s. He left the party in 2001 because he felt that it had moved too far to the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

under

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, and defected to the Green Party. First elected in 2005, Sanders was a

county councillor A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

representing the East Oxford division in the

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. Established in 1889, it is an elected body responsible for most strategic local government ...

until he retired from the Council in 2013. His main focuses in county politics were

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

services. He resigned from the board of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust in October 2005 in a principled stand amid concerns that proposed cuts to services would leave vulnerable patients at greater risk. Sanders became Chairman of the Oxford Community School's Board of Governors in September 2009, following the resignation of the previous chairman, Chris Ballinger, and six other board members. In December 2009, the

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was repl ...

approved Oxfordshire County Council's application to disband the Board of Governors and replace them with an interim executive board. On hearing the decision, Sanders said he was 'dreadfully disappointed'. In February 2016, Sanders was appointed Health Spokesperson of the

. He served until May 2021. Sanders was elected as a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders to the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the maj ...

at the

Democrats Abroad Democrats Abroad is the official organization of the Democratic Party for United States citizens living temporarily or permanently abroad. The organization is given state-level recognition by the Democratic National Committee. Democrats Abroa ...

Global Convention in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in May 2016. He tearfully spoke at the convention on July 26 of his intention to cast his vote for his brother. He was the 7th-placed candidate for the Greens in the South East England constituency in the

2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election. It was held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results announced on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May 2019, after all the other EU coun ...

Electoral history

House of Commons

Sanders was selected to contest the

Oxford East Oxford East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Anneliese Dodds of the Labour Party. Created in 1983, the constituency covers the eastern and southern parts of Oxford in Oxfordshire. It bor ...

constituency at the 2017 snap general election. He finished in fourth place with 1,785 votes (3.3%). Sanders was selected as the Green Party candidate for the Witney by-election after

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

's resignation as an MP in September 2016. He finished in fourth place with 1,363 votes (3.54%). Sanders ran as a Green Party candidate for

Oxford West and Abingdon Oxford West and Abingdon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat. Constituency profile The constituency includes the town of Abingdon, and the central, wester ...

at the 2015 UK general election and finished in fifth place, receiving 2,497 votes, 4.4% of the total.

Notes

References

Sources

*Oxfordshire County Council (July 2005). ''Who and How: Your guide to Oxfordshire County Council''.

External links

*
Oxford Mail: Companies may run community care, 2005-10-13

An interview in 2006 with Larry Sanders
b
Saint Kermit the podcast

Meet Larry Sanders, Bernie's Big Brother
''

The Takeaway ''The Takeaway'' was a weekday radio news program co-created and co-produced by Public Radio International and WNYC. Its editorial partner was GBH; at launch the BBC World Service and ''The New York Times'' were also editorial partners. In a ...

''
Bernie Sanders brother gives glimpse into their childhood the real Bernie
''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' interview {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Larry 1935 births Academics of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of West London American emigrants to the United Kingdom American people of Polish-Jewish descent American socialists British socialists Bernie Sanders British people of Polish-Jewish descent Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates Harvard Law School alumni Living people Politicians from Brooklyn New York (state) Democrats James Madison High School (Brooklyn) alumni Brooklyn College alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford American people of Russian-Jewish descent British people of Russian-Jewish descent Members of Oxfordshire County Council Green Party of England and Wales councillors