Jean B. Cryor

Jean B. Cryor (December 13, 1938 – November 3, 2009) was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for District 15, which covers a portion of Montgomery County, Maryland, and later sat on the Montgomery County Planning Board as one of two Republicans, by appointment from June 2007 until the time of her death from cancer. She was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Background

Cryor was first elected in 1993 when two of the three sitting delegates did not run for reelection in the 1993 election. She served for 12 years until 2007, when she was defeated by Craig L. Rice by 152 votes, an election which saw many Republicans voted out of office nationwide. She was the last elected Republican in the Maryland General Assembly serving Montgomery County. She married Daniel J. Cryor (1933–1978) November 21, 1959. She has three daughters: Allison, Jennifer and Deirdre.

Education

Cryor attended Convent of the Sacred Heart in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, now located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She attended the University of Pennsylvania. In 1979, she graduated from Loyola College in Maryland with her M.B.A.

Career

Cryor was a former writer, editor and publisher of the Gazette Newspapers and a reporter with the Philadelphia Bulletin.

In 2000, she was selected as a delegate for the Republican Party National Convention. In addition to her delegate work, she was a board member of BlackRock Center for the Arts, the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes . She was also on the board for Convent of the Sacred Heart and the Potomac Theater Company .

Cryor has won several awards over her career, including first prize for Investigative Reporting by the Maryland Society of Professional Journalists in 1993. She was also awarded Citizen of the Year by Almanac Newspapers. In 2000 she was elected Legislator of the Year by the Maryland Retailers Association . In 2002, she was Businessperson of the Year according to the Maryland Business for Responsive Government . She was also named a Hero of the Taxpayer by the Maryland Taxpayers Association .

In 2002, she was many awards including the award for Building the Bridge to Educational Excellence in Maryland Public Schools by the State Board of Education, Legislator of the Year by the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation and Registry of Maryland, and the Thornton Commission Award by the State Board of Education. Additionally, she has voted as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women by the Daily Record in 2003 and again in 2006, the Woman of Achievement Award by the Suburban Maryland Business and Professional Women Association in 2005, and finally she received a Lifetime Service Award from the Potomac Chamber of Commerce in 2006.

While in the House of Delegates, Cryor was a member of the following committees: Ways and Means Committee from 1995 until 2007, the Conference committee on taxes in 1996, the Joint Committee on Community College Funding in 1996, the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee from 2004 until 2007, and the Legislative Policy Committee from 2005 until 2007. Furthermore, she also served on the Special Committee on State Employee Rights and Protections from 2005 until 2007, and the House Facilities Committee from 2005 until 2007. She was a member of the Steering Committee for the House Republican Caucus for ten years starting in 1997, the County Affairs Committee, and the Montgomery County Delegation. Finally, she was on the Executive Board of the Women Legislators of Maryland from 2006 until 2007, serving as president-elect from 2003–04 and president from 2004 until 2005.

At the time of her death, Cryor was a Commissioner on the Montgomery County Planning Board. She also served as a Commissioner of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Election results

• 2006 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 15^[1]

Voters to choose three:

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Kathleen M. Dumais, Dem.	25,781	21.6%	Won
Brian J. Feldman, Dem.	25,760	21.6%	Won
Craig L. Rice, Dem.	20,202	17.0%	Won
Jean B. Cryor, Rep.	20,050	16.8%	Lost
Brian Mezger, Rep.	14,112	11.8%	Lost
Chris Pilkerton, Rep.	13,174	11.1%	Lost

• 2002 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 15^[1]

Voters to choose three:

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Jean B. Cryor, Rep.	20,584	18.7%	Won
Brian J. Feldman, Dem.	19,719	17.9%	Won
Kathleen M. Dumais, Dem.	19,246	17.5%	Won
John Young, Dem.	17,358	15.8%	Lost
William Ferner Askinazi, Rep.	16,693	15.2%	Lost
Mary Kane, Rep.	16,579	15.0%	Lost
Other Write-Ins	42	0.0%	Lost

• 1998 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 15^[2]

Voters to choose three:

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Mark K. Shriver, Dem.	26,114	22%	Won
Jean B. Cryor, Rep.	22,160	19%	Won
Richard A. La Vay, Rep.	18,395	16%	Won
David B. Dashefsky, Dem.	17,818	15%	Lost
William Ferner Askinazi, Rep.	16,882	14%	Lost
Anthony Patrick Puca, Dem.	16,841	14%	Lost

• 1994 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 15^[3]

Voters to choose three:

Name	Votes	Percent	Outcome
Mark K. Shriver, Dem.	20,696	20%	Won
Jean Cryor, Rep.	18,804	18%	Won
Richard La Vay, Rep.	17,214	17%	Won
Stuart D. Schooler, Dem.	15,882	15%	Lost
Elizabeth Tookie Gentilcore, Dem.	15,325	15%	Lost
Davis M. Richardson, Rep.	15,847	15%	Lost

External links

• "Planning Board member Cryor dies: Potomac woman was former legislator, publisher", Staff compilation, Montgomery Gazette, November 3, 2009, downloaded 2009 November 3

References and notes