Armenian-born Sen. George Z. Hart dies at 88

PanARMENIAN.Net - George Z. Hart, a veteran politician from Dearborn who was known as “the singing senator,” has died at age 88, Detroit Free Press reported.

Born in Detroit, Hart was elected to the Michigan Senate in 1974 and served through 2002. The Democrat had earlier served on the Wayne County Commission and the Dearborn City Council.

Former Democratic Sen. Arthur Miller, now a Lansing lobbyist, said Hart pushed for child car safety seat legislation, and that it’s impossible to estimate how many children’s lives have been saved as a result of tougher state laws Hart championed.

The son of Armenian immigrants, Hart, a World War II army veteran, graduated from Wayne State University in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He died on Jan. 31, according to his niece Mary Canfield.

Former Republican Sen. Phil Hoffman remembered Hart leading the Senate chamber in song on birthdays and other special occasions.

Belonging to different political parties, “we did battle many times, but at the end, he was very civil,” said Hoffman, who represented Horton and is also a lobbyist in Lansing.

A longtime bachelor, Hart married Catherine O’Brien of Windsor, his companion of more than eight years, on Dec. 6, his niece said. He died at a hospital in Albuquerque, N.M., where he was vacationing, from age-related ailments, she said.