Larry Sanders (politician)

Lawrence Sanders (born 29 April 1935)[1][2] is an American-born British academic, social worker, politician, and Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales. He is the older brother of Bernie Sanders, United States Senator and twice U.S. presidential candidate.

Larry Sanders
Green Party Spokesperson for Health
Assumed office
11 February 2016
Leader
Preceded byJillian Creasy
Member of the Oxfordshire County Council
In office
2005–2013
Personal details
Born
Lawrence Sanders

(1935-04-29) 29 April 1935
New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality
  • American
  • British
Political partyGreen (2001–present)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse(s)Margaret (died 1983)
Domestic partnerJanet Hall (since 1998)
Children2
FatherElias Sanders
RelativesBernie Sanders (brother)
Education

Early life, education, and family

Larry Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Dorothy (née Glassberg) and Eli Sanders.[3][4] Sanders' father was a Jewish immigrant whose family was killed in the Holocaust,[3][5][6] while his mother was born in New York City on 2 October 1912 to Jewish immigrant parents from Radzyń Podlaski, in eastern Poland and Russia.[7][8][9] His father, Eli, was born in Słopnice, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of modern-day Poland), on 19 September 1904.[10] He emigrated from his birthplace to America in 1921 at age 17.[11][12] He supported his family by selling paint.[13] 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.[13] Sanders' mother died in June 1959 at the age of 46.[6] Sanders' father later died on 4 August 1962, at the age of 57.[10] Both he and his younger brother attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn.[14] Sanders described both of them as young postwar Jewish radicals but said they were part of the crowd, not yet leaders.[15]

Sanders attended Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and obtained a masters degree in social work from the University of Oxford.[16] He also attended Harvard Law School in the 1950s, leaving after two years to care for his sick mother. He returned after 35 years and attained his law degree there in 1994.[17]

Sanders immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1968[18] or 1969.[19][20] He became a university lecturer first at the University of West London and later at Oxford in the Department of Social Administration.[21]

His son, Jacob Edward "Jake" Sanders (born 26 November 1968), was elected to Oxford City Council in 2000 and was a Green Party 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.[21] He left the Labour Party in 2001 because he felt that it had moved too far to the right under the leadership of Tony Blair, and defected to the Green Party as a result.[17]

First elected in 2005, Sanders was a Green Party county councillor representing the East Oxford division in the Oxfordshire County Council, until he retired from the Council in 2013.[22][23] His main focuses in county politics were social and health care 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.

He 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.[24] In December of the same year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families approved an application by Oxfordshire County Council to disband the Board of Governors and replace them with an interim executive board. On hearing the decision, Sanders stated that he was "dreadfully disappointed".[25]

Sanders ran as a Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon at the 2015 UK general election and finished in fifth place, receiving 2,497 votes, or 4.4% of the overall vote.[20][26]

In February 2016, he was appointed Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales.[27]

Sanders was elected as a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders to the 2016 Democratic National Convention at the Democrats Abroad Global Convention in Berlin in May 2016. He tearfully spoke at the convention on 26 July of his intention to cast his vote for his brother.[28]

Sanders was selected as the Green Party candidate for the Witney by-election following former Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation as an MP in September 2016.[29] He finished in fourth place with 1,363 votes (3.54%).[30] Sanders was selected to contest the Oxford East constituency at the 2017 snap general election. He finished in fourth place with 1,785 votes and a 3.3% share of the vote.[31] 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.

References
  1. Glenza, Jessica (12 October 2015). "Bernie and Larry Sanders: candidate's brother crosses Atlantic to watch debate". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  2. "1940 United States Federal Census". NARA/Ancestry.com. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  3. Leibovich, Mark (21 January 2007). "The Socialist Senator". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  4. Theis, Paul Anthony; Henshaw, Edmund Lee, eds. (1991). Who's Who in American Politics. 2. Bowker. ISBN 9780835230124. Retrieved 4 December 2013 – via Google Books.
  5. Kelly, Amita (29 April 2015). "5 Things You Should Know About Bernie Sanders". NPR. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  6. Stone, Kurt (2010). The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members. Scarecrow Press. p. 483.
  7. Gaudiano, Nicole (28 April 2015). "OnPolitics: 6 things to know about Bernie Sanders". USA Today. Archived from the original on 27 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  8. van Zuylen-Wood, Simon (21 June 2014). "I'm Right and Everybody Else Is Wrong. Clear About That?". National Journal. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  9. "Dorothy Glassberg". Geni.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  10. "Eli Sanders". Geni.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  11. Chana, Jas (20 August 2015). "Straight Outta Brooklyn, by Way of Vermont: The Bernie Sanders Story". Tablet. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  12. "Bernie Sanders' ancestral town in Poland kvells over his Iowa performance". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  13. Smith, Nicola (17 January 2016). "Bernie ropes in British brother for showdown with Clinton". Sunday Times (London). ProQuest 1757568267.
  14. Stein, Ellin.Growing Up With The Bern, Slate, 4 February 2016. Accessed 11 February 2016.
  15. Roberson, Dana (5 November 2015). "Meet Larry Sanders, Bernie's Big Brother". The Takeaway. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  16. Kelley, Kevin J. "Larry Sanders on Stickball and Breaking Bread in Brooklyn".
  17. Kelly, Kevin (27 May 2015). "Bernie's Bro: Working-Class Brooklyn Roots Shaped My Brother". Seven Days. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  18. Sanchez, Rafe (30 April 2015). "'I'm running for Parliament but my brother is running for President'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  19. "County councillor's brother elected to US Senate". The Oxford Times. Newsquest Media Group. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  20. Hansen, Lauren (8 May 2015). "Bernie Sanders' brother lost his longshot bid for British Parliament". The Week. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  21. "The Sanders brothers: A tale of two underdogs". BBC News.
  22. "Election results for East Oxford". Oxfordshire County Council. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  23. "Green County Councillor Retires". Oxfordshire Green Party. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  24. Bardsley, Francesca (2 October 2009). "Fight for control at Oxford School". The Oxford Times. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  25. Bardsley, Fran (15 December 2009). "Board ousting 'is a stitch-up'". The Oxford Times. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  26. Collinson, Stephen (7 May 2015). "Bernie Sanders' brotherly love". CNN. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  27. Stone, Jon (11 February 2016). "Bernie Sanders' British brother Larry Sanders appointed UK Green Party's health spokesperson". Independent (newspaper). Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  28. Prokop, Andrew (26 July 2016). "Bernie Sanders's brother gave a tearful tribute to Bernie and their parents at the DNC". VOX. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  29. "Tories select barrister for Cameron's Witney seat". BBC News. 22 September 2016.
  30. Craig, Jon (21 October 2016). "Conservatives hold Cameron's old seat in Witney by-election". Sky News. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  31. "Larry Sanders pledges to tackle inequality if he becomes Oxford East MP". Oxford Mail.
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