John Winthrop Sears (December 18, 1930 – November 4, 2014) was an American lawyer, historian and politician. His great-great-grandfather was David Sears II. He was the grandson of seven time National tennis champion Richard Dudley Sears and the first cousin once removed of Eleonora Sears. Sears was an alumnus of St. Mark's School, Harvard College during which he spent a year as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and Harvard Law School. He served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1965–1968, Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts from 1968–1969. He was Metropolitan District Commissioner from 1970–1975, He was Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 1975–1976. He ran for municipal office and served as a Boston City Councilor from 1980–1981. He was a candidate for Mayor of Boston in 1967, Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1978. He was the Republican candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1982. Sears received one vote for the vice presidential nomination at the 1976 Republican National Convention. In 2012 the longtime party activist defined himself as "an old-fashioned, center-fielding Republican." He died at his home in Boston on November 4, 2014. References External links 1930 births 2014 deaths American brokers Boston City Council members Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts Republican Party chairs Massachusetts lawyers Sheriffs of Suffolk County, Massachusetts Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Lawyers from Boston American stockbrokers 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians Candidates in the 1982 United States elections Harvard College alumni St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni