 J. Millard Tawes, the fifty-ninth elected Governor of Maryland,
was born April 8, 1894, in Crisfield, Somerset County, Maryland, a son of James B. and Alice Byrd Tawes. He is married to the former
Helen Avalynne Gibson. They have a son, Philip W. Tawes, and a daughter, Mrs. William R. Wilson, Jr., and four grandchildren, the
three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Philip W. Tawes and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson.
Governor Tawes was educated in the public schools of Somerset
County, at the Wilmington Conference Academy in Dover, Delaware, and at the Sadler's, Bryant, and Stratton Business College, where
he specialized in the study of banking and accountancy. He holds honorary doctor of laws degrees from Washington College and the
University of Maryland.
He began his career in business with lumbering and canning firms
founded and owned by his father. He continued this association with his father, and later his brothers, as the family's business enterprises
were extended into shipbuilding, baking, and banking.
He was secretary and treasurer of the Crisfield Shipbuilding
Company, was vice-president and treasurer of the Tawes Baking Company, was associated in the management of the Tawes-Gibson Lumber
Company and the Tawes-Gibson Packing Company, and is a director of the Bank of .Crisfield.
The Governor is a Methodist and has been active in church work
from his early youth. For many years, he taught the Men's Bible Class at Immanuel Methodist Church in Crisfield, of which he is
a member. He is president of the Board of Trustees of Immanuel Church. He was a delegate to the 1952 General Conference of the
Methodist Church held in San Francisco and formerly was treasurer of the Wilmington Conference Education Society, Incorporated.
His active career in politics spreads over three decades, beginning in 1930 when he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court for Somerset
County. After two terms in this office (1930-38), he was elected Comptroller of the Treasury in his first State-wide election campaign
in 1938. In 1942 he ran again without opposition in the primary and won a second four-year term in the general election.
These eight years were the first part of an interrupted career of
seventeen years in the office of State Comptroller. During that period, due to the growth in population and the broad expansion of State
activities, the office personnel increased from one hundred to five hundred employees.
In May 1947, Governor Lane appointed him State Bank Commissioner, a position he held until he was appointed State Comptroller
on July 5, 1950 to fill the unexpired term of the late James J. Lacy. He was re-elected Comptroller, without primary or Republican
opposition, in 1960 and again in 1954.
He was elected Governor of Maryland in 1958 by the greatest
majority ever given a candidate for that office.
The Governor holds membership in the following clubs and fraternal
organizations: Crisfield Rotary Club (charter member). Elks, Knights
of Pythias, Advertising Club of Baltimore, Hibernian Society of Baltimore, Maryland Society of Pennsylvania, Crisfield Fire
Department (past president), Chesapeake Bay Fishing Fair Association (past president), Masons, Shrine, Order of the Eastern Star, Eastern
Shore Shrine Club, Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Scimeter Club, and the
Eastern Shore Society of Baltimore.
He is a former member of the Board of Visitors and Governors of
Washington College, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Wesley Junior College, Dover, Delaware, the Board of Directors of
the McCready Memorial Hospital in Crisfield, and the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is past
president of the Maryland State Firemen's Association and is a former chairman of its Scholarship Committee. He is past
president of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers.
Governor Tawes' present address is Government House, Annapolis,
Maryland. He maintains a residence in Crisfield.
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