John Rensenbrink, one of the distinguished figures in nationwide politics after co-founding the U.S. and Maine Inexperienced political events, died on Saturday on the age of 93, in response to World Greens.
Rensenbrink grew up in Minnesota, one in all seven kids born to Dutch-American farmers, Effie and John. He earned a bachelor’s diploma in historical past and political science from Calvin School in Michigan, and a grasp’s diploma and a doctorate in political science from the College of Michigan and the College of Chicago, respectively.
He turned a professor of presidency and environmental research at Bowdoin School in 1961, the place he taught for greater than 30 years, in response to Bowdoin.
In 1984, he turned a principal founding father of the Inexperienced Social gathering, nationally and in Maine. He co-convened a gathering in Augusta on Jan. 8 of that yr to kind a Maine Inexperienced Social gathering — the primary Inexperienced state-level political social gathering in the US, in response to World Greens.
“That’s the toughest factor I’ve ever tried to perform — to create a brand new political social gathering,” Rensenbrink instructed Bowdoin in a 2018 interview. “For me, the Inexperienced Social gathering and its Ten Key Values supply the opportunity of creating a brand new economic system rooted within the land and a grassroots, ecologically tuned political tradition. For years, attaining this imaginative and prescient turned my ardour.”
Rensenbrink was the social gathering’s candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1996.
The Inexperienced Impartial Social gathering gained official poll standing in 1998, when gubernatorial candidate Pat LaMarche obtained 6.8 % of the vote. A celebration’s candidate for governor or president wanted to garner not less than 5 % of all votes in a normal election to get official recognition.
He and his spouse, Carla, raised three daughters and spearheaded the Cathance River Schooling Alliance, a nonprofit group with the purpose of inspiring a sustainable future.
Correction: A earlier model of this story incorrectly spelled Rensenbrink’s final title.
