William Royer

William Howard Royer (April 11, 1920 – April 8, 2013) was an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He served as a U.S. Representative from the 11th Congressional District of California from 1979 until 1981.

William Howard Royer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 11th district
In office April 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Leo Ryan
Succeeded by	Tom Lantos
Personal details
Born	William Howard Royer (1920-04-11)April 11, 1920 Jerome, Idaho, US
Died	April 8, 2013(2013-04-08) (aged 92) Redwood City, California, US
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Shirley Wilson
Children	2
Alma mater	Santa Clara University, Oklahoma State University
Occupation	Realtor, politician

Early life

Royer was born April 11, 1920 in Jerome, Idaho. His family moved to Redwood City, California. In 1938, Royer graduated from Sequoia High School.^[1][2]

Education

He earned his B.S. at Santa Clara University in 1941 and did graduate work at what is now Oklahoma State University.^[2]

Career

From 1943 to 1945, Royer served in the United States Army Air Forces. Afterward, Royer became a realtor and started Royer Realty Company.^[3]

Royer's political career began in 1950 when he was elected to the Redwood City Council, on which he would serve until 1966. From 1956 to 1960, Royer also served as mayor of Redwood City.

In 1972, Royer was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and was re-elected in 1976.^[1]

In 1979, Royer won a special election to succeed the late congressman Leo J. Ryan (D-San Mateo), winning with 57% of the vote. He finished the remainder of Ryan's term. In the 1980 election, Royer was defeated in his bid for a full term, losing 43.3%-46.4% to Democratic challenger Tom Lantos. Royer ran against Lantos again in 1982, losing 40%-57%.

Personal life

Royer was married to the former Shirley Wilson. They had two sons, Dennis and Peter. Shirley Royer died in 2010; William Royer died April 8, 2013, in his Redwood City home of natural causes. He died three days before his 93rd birthday.^[2]

Royer's nephew Jim Harnett is also a politician, serving as mayor of Redwood City.^[1]

Electoral history

1979 Special election^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Royer	52,585	57.3
	Democratic	G.W. "Joe" Holsinger	37,685	41.1
	American Independent	Nicholas W. Kudrovzeff	770	0.8
	Peace and Freedom	Wilson G. Branch	731	0.8
Total votes			91,771	100.0
Turnout
	Republican gain from Democratic

1980 United States House of Representatives elections in California^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Lantos	85,823	46.4
	Republican	William Royer (Incumbent)	80,100	43.3
	Peace and Freedom	Wilson G. Branch	13,723	7.4
	Libertarian	William S. Wade Jr.	3,816	2.1
	American Independent	Nicholas W. Kudrovzeff	1,550	0.8
Total votes			185,012	100.0
Turnout
	Democratic gain from Republican