Former Tennessee Gov. Winfield Dunn, who left dentistry to win as a first-time candidate, dies at 97

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Tennessee Gov. Winfield Dunn, who left dentistry to make a successful run for office in 1970 without having previously held public office, has died. He was 97.

The Republican from Memphis died Saturday, Gov. Bill Lee’s office announced. Dunn became the state’s first GOP governor in 50 years, helping usher in a two-party system. He was barred from succeeding himself as governor — a law that later was changed — and ran unsuccessfully for a second term in 1986.

Dunn’s achievements include expanding public kindergartens to every Tennessee school. He also created a regional prison program, a new Department of Economic and Community Development and a state housing agency to help middle- and low-income families obtain mortgages.

“I’ve never really thought about a legacy,” Dunn said in an interview in 1998. “But I would say it was a time when more good people, for all the right reasons, became a part of the process than ever before. I think I helped create a change in the political climate in Tennessee.”

Born Bryant Winfield Culberson Dunn on July 1, 1927, in Meridian, Mississippi, he was a virtual unknown in Tennessee when he mounted the state Capitol steps in the spring of 1970 to announce a run for governor. Only two reporters were present.

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