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VTDigger
‘An institution’: Bill Doyle, Vermont’s longest-serving state senator, dies at 98
By Shaun Robinson,
5 days ago
Bill Doyle, Vermont’s longest-serving state senator whose commitment to civic engagement was felt far beyond the bounds of his seat in Washington County, died last week at a residential care facility in Northfield. He was 98.
Doyle served in the Senate from 1969 to 2017. The genial political science professor was perhaps best known across the state for authoring a long-running Town Meeting Day survey , known as the “Doyle Poll.” The unscientific survey reached thousands of Vermonters a year and regularly informed Doyle’s own votes on hot-button issues.
Back in Washington County, Doyle, a Republican, built a reputation as a tireless, though ever-genuine, campaigner. If he could help it, there wasn’t a single community gathering across his central Vermont district that he would miss, recalled Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, who served alongside Doyle in the Senate for two decades.
“He was legendary for being able to do three chicken pie suppers in one evening,” Cummings said in an interview Tuesday, adding that Doyle was “the most active senator, in the sense of interfacing with the public, I’ve ever seen.”
Former Washington County state Sen. Bill Doyle listens during a ceremony honoring his 48-year service in the Senate. Photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger
Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who also represented Washington County with Doyle in the Senate, said the same in a statement Tuesday, calling Doyle “an institution.”
“I couldn’t believe the number of events he went to each and every day from dawn to well into the night,” the governor said. “He didn’t do it for fame or ego, he did it because he was a true public servant and wanted to stay connected to the people.”
In the Legislature, Doyle mentored “hundreds” of lawmakers, Scott said. Doyle chaired the Senate Government Operations Committee and served as the Senate Minority Leader. He also held the title of the body’s “third member,” sitting on a powerful panel that doles out committee assignments, known as the Committee on Committees.
Doyle was a staunch defender of Vermont’s open primary system, Vermont Public reported in 2018 , which allows voters to choose the party’s primary they want to vote in. He also helped craft disclosure requirements for lobbyist expenses.
Former Washington County Sen. Bill Doyle appears in the Montpelier Fourth of July parade on July 3, 2015. Photo by Roger Crowley/VTDigger.
During Legislative committee hearings, Doyle was “always a real gentleman,” recalled former Republican Senator Vince Illuzzi, who now serves as the Essex County State’s Attorney and was a close friend of Doyle’s. “He always treated witnesses that came into the Statehouse with the utmost compassion and courtesy.”
Cummings recalled that Doyle regularly showed up at the Statehouse — bright and early — with his students from Johnson State College, where he taught political science for six decades. According to his obituary, his classes spurred more than 60 of his students to run for public office, half of whom were elected and served in leadership positions in state government.
Among those alumni is Rep. Dan Noyes, D-Wolcott, who attended Johnson State — which is now under the umbrella of Vermont State University — in the 1980s and ‘90s.
Learning from Doyle “definitely piqued my interest in politics and in our state government and service to the community,” Noyes said in an interview Tuesday. “He made a lasting impression on his students, for sure.”
Doyle began teaching at Johnson State after earning a bachelor’s degree in history at Princeton University and master’s and doctoral degrees in education from Columbia University. He was born in 1926 in New York City and grew up in the seaside borough of Sea Girt in New Jersey, according to his obituary, “riding the waves and playing softball on the beach.”
Former Washington County state Sen. Bill Doyle rides in the Montpelier parade. Photo by Roger Crowley
In and around Montpelier, where he moved in 1959, Doyle coached youth sports, wrote weekly newspaper columns and hosted a public affairs talk show on local television.
In 1984, he published a chronicle of state politics titled “The Vermont Political Tradition: And Those Who Helped Make It,” and went on to pen updated editions of the book following its release.
Doyle was also known, in the capital city, for his “legendary” dinners at Sarducci’s, the city’s decades-old pizza and pasta outpost, recalled Cummings, the Washington senator.
“All the waiters at his favorite restaurant Sarducci’s knew to provide extra onion with his order,” his obituary reads, adding that Doyle had a “hearty appetite” and “relished turkey legs, ice cream, corn on the cob, and fried yellow onions.” VTDigger, in 2017, described Doyle’s “uncanny ability to find buffets at political events at home and out of state.”
In a statement Tuesday, Montpelier Mayor Jack McCullough said the longtime senator’s death would be felt across the city, calling Doyle’s community service “unparalleled.” The city flag was set to be flown at half-staff in his honor.
“Everyone in Montpelier knew Bill Doyle,” McCullough said.
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