Richard Headlee


Richard Harold Headlee was a politician in Michigan, United States. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Governor of Michigan in the 1982 election. He was also known as the author of the Headlee Amendment, which requires voters' approval for many tax increases in Michigan.

Early life

Headlee was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to William Clark and Violet Lunn Headlee and grew up in Richfield, Utah. He graduated from Utah State University in 1953.
After graduating from college, Headlee joined the US military and was stationed in Mannheim, Germany. He then came to Bountiful, Utah, where he joined the Jaycees and eventually became its national president in 1963.

Political career

In 1964, Headlee moved to Michigan. That year, he was appointed by Governor George Romney to run a program for Michigan servicemen in Vietnam. In 1966, Headlee served as Romney's campaign manager. Outworked by Romney, Headlee declined to investigate the LDS Church. He was baptized in 1966 and he was sealed to his wife, a lifelong church member, and his children in 1967 in the Salt Lake Temple.
In 1978, Headlee organized the effort that brought about the Headlee Amendment. The Republican candidate for governor of Michigan in 1982, he lost to Jim Blanchard.

Later life

In 1987, Headlee was the recipient of a heart transplant from a victim of a motorcycle accident in Texas.
In the LDS Church, Headlee served twice as a bishop, ten years in a stake presidency and as a Regional Representative.
Headlee was President and CEO of Alexander Hamilton Life Insurance Co., based in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Headlee was anti-taxes and pro-life.
Headlee funded the creation by Dennis Smith and placement of the "Signing of the Constitution" statues in the US embassies in Moscow and London in 1988.
In 1992, Headlee his children and grandchildren were involved in a major effort to assist children in Romanian orphanages. This was organized into Project Concern International, which provided 40,000 pounds of supplies to an orphanage in Romania.
After retiring and moving to Park City, Utah, to be near his grandchildren Headlee served as the director of the board of Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Ivins, Utah. He died at his home in Cedar Hills, Utah, in 2004.

Personal life

In 1949 Headlee married his high school sweetheart, Mary Elaine Mendenhall. They had four sons and five daughters, among them Howard Headlee, President of the Utah Bankers Association.