David Haskell Sawyer ’59

David Sawyer, a pioneer political consultant, died July 2, 1995, of a brain tumor. His wife, Nell Michel Sawyer, died of cancer two weeks later.

Born in Boston, Dave attended Milton Academy. At Princeton he majored in English, joined the WhigCliosophic Society, and was president of Theatre Intime. He belonged to Cap and Gown. Dave began his postgraduate career making documentary films and producing public affairs programs. One of his films, Other Voices, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1970. In that same year he did some work for a political candidate in Illinois, and the art of modernday political consulting was inaugurated.

The SawyerMiller group, Dave's company, used polling studies of the electorate to shape the dialogue of campaigns. Dave included among his clients Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John D. Rockefeller IV, Edward M. Kennedy, and John Glenn, as well as six governors and many other state and local officials. His work also extended to politicians as far away as the Philippines and Israel. Among corporate clients he counted CocaCola, Apple Computer, Goldman Sachs, Time-Warner, and Resorts Intl.

Dave is survived by his son, Luke; two stepsons, Andrew and Gavin; his mother, Helen Brewer; a brother, Edward '55; and a sister, Penny Sawyer. The sympathies of the class are with them all.

The Class of 1959