Major
Norman Major, who served 26 years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, died April 15. He was 91.
He served on the House Ways and Means Committee as vice chair and chair and was active in NCSL as a longtime member of the State and Local Taxation Task Force and the Budgets and Revenue Committee before retiring in 2022.
“Along with his wife, Brenda, he attended many of our meetings and connected with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle from inside and outside New Hampshire,” says Heather Morton, director of NCSL’s Financial Services, Technology and Communication Program.
“I was always impressed by how dedicated Representative Major was ensuring that New Hampshire’s positions were heard and represented at NCSL’s meetings, even when they were in the minority.”
Away from the legislature, his passion was Scouting.
He was instrumental in the Pioneering program for the Boy Scouts’ National Jamboree for 24 years, New Hampshire House Speaker Sherman Packard wrote in a message to House members and staff.
“He also played a major role in supporting his sons Kevin and Brian in leading New Hampshire’s contingents to the 2017 National Jamboree and the 2019 World Jamboree,” Packard wrote. “He served in so many capacities, but his most cherished roles included being a loving husband to his wife Brenda and a devoted father to their four sons. He was an avid backpacking instructor, outdoorsman, and a history buff. Norm was the epitome of public service, a beloved and well-respected figure in his community and across the state. He will be dearly missed.”
He climbed all 67 of New England’s 4,000-foot mountains and helped over 100 Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts.
He served three years in the Army, then earned a bachelor’s from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s from Northeastern University. Both degrees were in electrical engineering. He worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories, Western Electric and AT&T at the Merrimack Valley Works facility in North Andover, Mass., retiring as an engineering manager.
He held two U.S. patents that were used by NASA for the Skylab crewed space station.
Read his full obituary.
Mark Wolf is a senior editor in NCSL’s Communications Division.