DEARBORN —  Michigan Senator George Z. Hart from Dearborn passed away Jan. 31 in Albuquerque, New Mexico according to a relative of the veteran politician. Hart was 88. 

Hart served on the Dearborn City Council from 1960-1970 and throughout 1986; he was a state senator from 1979-82 and from 1987-2002; and was a member of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners from 1972-78.

He spent time pushing for child car safety seat legislation. The legislation is being credited for saving children’s lives. 

Hart.

According to Wayne County Commissioner Gary Woronchak Hart ran for office more than 20 times. He started in the mid-1950s and kept going until just four years ago. Counting primary elections, with some estimating due to lack of detailed records, he weathered somewhere between 30 and 40 elections in 53 years. 

Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. was Mr. Hart’s Chief of Staff in Lansing in 1980 through 1982 and again briefly in 1987 after chairing his 1986 campaign. He remembers the gregarious Hart as a people-oriented politician, who loved shaking hands and working the crowd, and who was usually in tune with his constituency. Literally. He was known as the “Singing Senator.” 

“George was one of the best known people in the city of Dearborn for decades. Everyone knew George, “the Singing Senator”, and many even purchased his recording of “Songs from the Heart” in the early 1980s,” said Mayor O’Reilly.

The following is an excerpt of what Woronchak wrote on his website about Hart as part of a longer story. The full text can be read at the address www.commissionergary.com. 

“George Hart ran for office more than 20 times. He started in the mid-1950s and kept going until just four years ago. Counting primary elections, with some estimating due to lack of detailed records, he weathered somewhere between 30 and 40 elections in 53 years. He ran for positions at the city, county, state and federal levels of government.

“He ran for some offices while already holding another. He lost a lot, but won more often. He bounced back, caught a couple breaks, went from one office to another, and he kept going and going.

“Along the way, he served 20 years in the Michigan Senate, seven years on the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and a dozen on the Dearborn City Council. That’s 39 years in public office in a span of 43 years from when he won his first seat on the council to when he left the state Senate.

“There are many George Hart stories. Anyone who’s been around Dearborn politics in the last couple generations has one…” 

He went on to call Hart “one of the most colorful characters in Dearborn’s history.”