revival of the Shakespeare Festival Theater in Stratford, and aided the purchase of the H.M.S. Rose by Kaye Williams in Bridgeport. Another of Gunther's passions is Connecticut's aviation history. In 2005, he successfully sponsored a bill naming World War II's F4U Corsair fighter, developed and manufactured in Connecticut, as the state's official aircraft, and organized a Corsair Celebration and Symposium at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford for Memorial Day, May 29, 2006. Gunther was also instrumental in the state legislature's designation of Igor Sikorsky as a Connecticut Aviation Pioneer, and sponsored a bill supporting Gustav Whitehead's claim to having achieved controlled powered heavier-than-air flight in Bridgeport, two years before the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk flight. Gunther hopes to see the Connecticut Air & Space Center move to the former Stratford Army Engine Plant, when the U.S. Army terminates ownership of the property. "Doc" Gunther died at 3am on August 26, 2012, in a hospice facility in Branford, Connecticut. In 2018 Stratford named a short access road to Long Beach Park in remembrance of Gunther, naming it "George “Doc” Gunther Way". The street is about 400 feet long, extending roughly from a guard shack to the parking lot. See also Connecticut Senate Stratford, Connecticut References Republican Party Connecticut state senators 1919 births 2012 deaths Connecticut city council members School board members in Connecticut Naturopaths Politicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut