Robert Saunders "Bob" Hart

Legislative Resolution

View Legislative Resolution File for Robert Saunders "Bob" Hart

Biographical Information

Sen. Robert Saunders Hart died November 26, 1955 and was replaced by Walter J. Thalheimer who was appointed Senator from Maricopa County  (Journal of the Senate, 22nd Legislature, 1st, 2nd Special Sessions, 1955, pp. 56-60, 66-67).

The following is from the Legislative death resolution:

On the twenty-sixth day of November, 1955, Honorable Robert S. Hart, beloved member of the Twenty-second Arizona Legislature, passed away unexpectedly at the age of thirty eight years.

Born in Phoenix on March 23, 1917, Senator Hart was educated in local elementary and high schools, receiving his bachelor and master degrees in political science from Arizona State College at Tempe [now Arizona State University].

Upon graduation, he taught at Murphy and Cashion elementary schools, later joining the faculty at West Phoenix High School.  He was a member of The National Education Association, The Arizona Education Association, The Italo-American Club, The Knights of Columbus, and was an active leader in The Catholic Church.

In 1946 the people of his district, recognizing his abilities, interests and willingness to serve his fellow man in any way they might require, elected him to the Eighteenth Arizona Legislature, where he served with distinction as a member of the Committees on Appropriations, Fish and Game, and Public Lands, and as Chairman of the Committee on Education.

In 1948 he was re-elected to the House of Representatives, the Nineteenth Legislature, where he served as a member of the Committees on County and County Affairs, Education, and Mines and Mining.  It was during this session that he became the first holder of an Arizona's teacher's certificate to sign a non-Communist affidavit.

In 1954 Senator Hart was elected to the Senate of the Twenty-second Arizona Legislature, where he was serving as Chairman of the Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs, as Vice-chairman of the Committee on Education, and as a member of the Committees on Highways and Bridges, Labor and Capital, Suffrage and Elections, Welfare and Correction, Counties, and Banking.

Honorable Robert S. Hart will long be remembered as repsesenting the highest type of citizenship.  He was keenly aware of his responsibilities to the community in which he lived and worked, and carried out those responsibilities with a kindliness and honesty that endeared him to the hearts of his fellow man.

Employment

Arizona Legislative Service

Sources

Birth: Arizona Legislative Biography sheet, AZ birth record:  "Robert Saunders Hart" parents:  William L. and Florence Anne (Saunders) Hart; Death and Cemetery: AZ death record; Occupation(s):  Legislative death resolution