Sherman Parker (August 28, 1971 – September 18, 2008) was a member of the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

. He was a Republican who represented part of

St. Charles County St. Charles County is located in the central eastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 405,262, making it Missouri's third-most populous county. Its county seat is St. Charles. The county was organ ...

(District 12) for two terms. He was elected to the House in 2002 election and was re-elected in 2004 with 73% of the vote. Parker left the House in 2006 to run for Congress but lost the Republican nomination to the incumbent, Rep.

Todd Akin William Todd Akin (July 5, 1947 – October 3, 2021) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2001 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party. Born in New York City, Akin grew up in the Greater St. Louis ...

. During the 92nd Missouri General Assembly, Parker was elected deputy majority whip and served as vice-chairman of the Financial Services Committee. He also served on the Education Committee and the Small Business Committee. During his first year as a legislator, Missouri's community college chancellors and presidents named Parker their legislator of the year for his work and commitment to higher education. Parker was also named Missouri Votes Conservation's Rising Stars due to his leadership on conservation issues. In 2002, Parker was named by his peers the Missouri's Young Republican of the Year. In 2005, Cardinal Glennon Hospital awarded Parker the "Defender of the Children" award. From 2000 to 2007, he served on the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of St. Charles County. In 2006, Parker was named by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of the region's "Most Influential Minority Business Leaders". Prior to his legislative duties, Parker served as the chief operating officer for Omicron Development Corporation, was a member of the executive staff of UniGroup, Inc., an account comptroller for State Street Bank in Boston, Massachusetts, and served as a special assistant to three United States Senators: Missouri senator and former Missouri governor Christopher "Kit" Bond, former senator

Jim Talent James Matthes Talent (born October 18, 1956) is an American politician who was a U.S. Senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office. After serving for eight years ...

, and former senator and governor

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, Lobbying, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the 79th United States attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. A Republican Party (United States), R ...

. He received his B.A. in North and South American history and political science at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

in 1994. During his junior year there, he attended the St. Louis University in

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He was a member of St. Peter's African Methodist Episcopal Church. Parker died suddenly as a result of a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These aneurysms can occur in an ...

Barnes-Jewish Hospital Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the largest hospital in the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in the Central West End, St. Louis, Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, it is the adult teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicin ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

References

*''Official Manual, State of Missouri, 2005-2006.'' Jefferson City, MO: Secretary of State. 1971 births 2008 deaths Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Missouri Methodists from Missouri People from St. Charles County, Missouri University of Vermont alumni American chief operating officers Deaths from intracranial aneurysm African-American Methodists People of the African Methodist Episcopal church 20th-century Methodists 21st-century Methodists 21st-century members of the Missouri General Assembly {{Missouri-MORepresentative-stub