Larry Sanders (politician)

Larry Sanders
File:Cllr Larry Sanders Oxfordshire 2005.jpg
Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2016
Member of the Oxfordshire County Council
In office 2005–2013
Personal details
Born	(1934-04-25) 25 April 1934 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Political party	Green Party of England and Wales
Children	Jacob
Parents	Eli Sanders (1904–1962) Dorothy Glassberg (1913–1960)
Education	Brooklyn College Harvard Law School University of Oxford
Occupation	Academic, social worker, politician

Lawrence "Larry" Sanders (born in Brooklyn, New York; April 25, 1934) is an American-British academic, social worker, and Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales. Sanders is the elder brother of United States Senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Early life, education, and family

Larry Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Dorothy (née Glassberg) and Eli Sanders. Sanders' father was a Jewish immigrant whose family was killed in the Holocaust, while his mother was born in New York City, to Jewish immigrant parents, on 2 October 1912. His father Eli – born in Słopnice, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire on 19 September 1904 – emigrated from his birthplace to America in 1921 at age 17, and supported his family as a paint salesman. As Larry remembers his childhood, the family never lacked for food or clothing, but major purchases, "like curtains or a rug", were difficult to afford. Sanders's mother died in June 1959 at the age of 46. Sanders' father later died on 4 August 1962, at the age of 57. According to Sanders, both brothers attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Sanders described both of them as post-WWII, young Jewish radicals, but were part of the crowd, not yet leaders.

Sanders attended one year at Brooklyn College and then later graduated from the University of Chicago, received his law degree from Harvard Law School, and obtained a master's degree in social work from the University of Oxford.

Sanders migrated to Britain in 1968 or 1969. He became a university lecturer at the University of West London, then at Oxford in the department of social administration. He was an employee and trustee of the Oxfordshire Carers' Forum and Oxfordshire Community Care Rights from 1996.

His son, Jacob Edward (Jake) Sanders (born 26 November 1968), was elected to Oxford City Council in 2000. He was a Green Party parliamentary candidate in the Oxford East constituency at the 2005 general election.

Political career

Sanders was active in the Labour Party in Oxford in the 1980s. He left Labour in 2001 because he felt that it had moved too far to the right under Tony Blair, and joined the Green Party.

First elected in 2005, Sanders was a Green Party county councillor representing the East Oxford division on Oxfordshire County Council, until he retired from the Council in 2013. His main focuses in county politics were social and health care services. He resigned from the board of the Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust in October 2005 in a principled stand amid concerns that proposed cuts to services would leave vulnerable patients at greater risk.

He became chairman of the Oxford Community School's Board of Governors in September 2009, following the resignation of the previous chairman, Chris Ballinger, and six other board members. In December of the same year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families approved an application by Oxfordshire County Council to disband the Board of Governors and replace them with an interim executive board. On hearing the decision, Sanders stated that he was "dreadfully disappointed".

Larry Sanders ran as a Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon in the 2015 British general election and came in fifth, receiving 2,497 votes, or 4.4% of the overall vote.

In February 2016 he was appointed Health Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Larry Sanders was elected as a pledged delegate for Bernie Sanders to the 2016 Democratic National Convention at the Democrats Abroad Global Convention in Berlin in May 2016.

External links

• Oxfordshire County Council (July 2005) Who and How: Your guide to Oxfordshire County Council.
• Oxford Mail: Companies may run community care, 2005-10-13
• interview with Larry Sanders by Saint Kermit the podcast
• Meet Larry Sanders, Bernie's Big Brother, The Takeaway
• Bernie Sanders brother gives glimpse into their childhood the real Bernie, Rolling Stone interview

• Stein, Ellin.Growing Up With The Bern, Slate, February 4, 2016. Accessed February 11, 2016.
• http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2015/06/15/larry-sanders-on-stickball-and-breaking-bread-in-brooklyn