John H. Hager

John Henry Hager (August 28, 1936August 23, 2020) was an American politician who served as the 37th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002. He was the first person with a disability to be elected to that office. He proceeded to act as an assistant secretary within the United States Department of Education from 2004 to 2007. He also served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia from August 2007 until May 2008. Early life and education Hager was born in Durham, North Carolina. He started a neighborhood newspaper in 1945. While an undergraduate at Purdue University, he ran a vending machine business, was an active member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and was a member of ROTC. One term, his course load was 25 credit hours – about two-thirds more than normal. He graduated with a BSME (mechanical engineering) in 1958. Both his parents, Virgil (1905–2002) and Ruth Rabbe Hager (1906–2000), were 1928 Purdue alumni. Hager earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1960, and subsequently served in the United States Army, rising to the rank of captain. Career After his active duty military service, Hager began work for the American Tobacco Company in Richmond, Virginia. The company retired him after his bout with polio, but he returned – beginning at the bottom again. At American Tobacco, he served as a government affairs representative. Hager was forcibly retired from the American Tobacco Company after the company's sale in 1994. In 1975, he volunteered for Lieutenant Governor John N. Dalton, and in 1984 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. In 1994, he co-chaired the Senatorial campaign for Oliver North. He ran for state party chairman in 1992, and was treasurer of the state Republican Party in 1994.