Utah's longest-serving governor, Calvin Rampton, dead at age 93

Calvin L. Rampton, 93, Utah's 11th and longest-serving governor ever, died Sunday. Funeral services are planned Friday at 11 a.m. at the Salt Lake Parleys LDS Stake Center, 1870 E. Parleys Canyon Blvd.

On Aug. 8 he suffered a stroke and earlier had been diagnosed with cancer. He was in hospice care, where family joined him Sunday after being alerted to his failing condition, said daughter Janet Warburton. Son Tony Rampton added, "This was not a shock and he passed away peacefully and without pain," he said today. "We were all there."

Son Vince Rampton said his father was in and out of conscicousness during the afternoon and passed away a little after 6 p.m. "He gave a little smile and stopped breathing."

To a generation of Utahns, Mr. Rampton was simply "the governor," because of his 12 years in office.

Mr. Rampton served as governor from 1965 to 1977, winning three four-year terms. By many accounts, he brought Utah's government into the modern fiscal era, initiating the first major bonding/building program in the state's history and restructuring government for the first time since statehood. Much of the University of Utah's "new" campus, as well as other public higher education campuses, were constructed through his efforts. He started "Rampton's Raiders," a group of volunteer businessmen who traveled the United States drumming up economic and tourist interest in Utah.

But what most people will likely remember about Rampton was his slow-talking, congenial style. While most called him governor to his face — even after he left office — they referred to him as simply Cal when talking outside his presence. He was rarely seen in public as angry or even perturbed.

A Bountiful native, Rampton retired from government service in 1977, returning to a private law practice.

Having ended his public career still loved by most Utahns, one wouldn't believe Rampton's political beginnings. He was rejected for office time after time. He lost three races for the state Senate, a race for state Democratic Party chairmanship and one that would have made him the Democratic national committeeman from Utah. He lost the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in 1962. In fact, he lost so many races in so short a span that some wondered what he was thinking when he got in the 1964 governor's race.

But it was a landslide Democratic year. Lyndon Johnson took Utah on his way to the presidency, the only time in the past 40 years that a Democratic presidential candidate carried Utah, and Rampton swung into office.