Penn alum, former Pennsylvania governor dies

Penn alumnus and former Pennsylvania governor George Michael Leader died at his home in Hershey, Pa. today. He was 95 years old.

Leader received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the School of Education in 1939. In 1955, he was elected governor of Pennsylvania. He also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University in January of 1957, when he was the keynote speaker at Penn’s midyear convocation.

As governor, Leader enacted policies such as transforming care for people with mental illnesses, requiring school districts to develop special education programs and establishing Pennsylvania’s first civil service for its professional employees.

The third Democrat to be elected governor of Pennsylvania since the Civil War, Leader also helped establish the power of the party in the state, as he was the first Democrat to be succeeded by another in 114 years.

Leader was also “largely responsible for making Pennsylvania state funds available to Penn to build many of its new campus buildings, beginning with Van Pelt Library in 1958,” Director of University Archives and Records Center Mark Lloyd said in an email.

According to an obituary in the York Dispatch, he “remained active in public and political affairs to the end.”

In 2012, he helped campaign for prison reform, supporting a bill that would provide alcohol and drug treatment for nonviolent offenders as opposed to prison.

The obituary also noted that he participated in a 2013 initiative in support of merit-based selection of Pennsylvania’s appellate judges.

Leader is survived by two sons — 1971 Wharton graduate George Michael Leader III and 1987 Wharton and College graduate David Charles Leader — one daughter and 12 grandchildren.

Any person wishing to contribute comments or additional information should email author Harry Cooperman at hcoop@sas.upenn.edu.

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