Marilyn Thayer

Marilyn Rossbach Thayer
Born	c. 1929 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Residence	New Orleans, Louisiana Lilburn, Georgia
Occupation	Former president of the National Federation of Republican Women
Spouse(s)	Stuart Wallace Thayer (married c. 1951–2005, his death)
Children	David Ross Thayer Stephen Saunders Thayer (deceased) Dana Rea Thayer Rieder
Parent(s)	Lois Krause Rossbach (mother)

Marilyn Rossbach Thayer (born c. 1929) is a former president of the National Federation of Republican Women, a position that she held from 1996 to 1997 while residing in her native New Orleans, Louisiana.

Background

Little information is available on Thayer's early years. She was married for fifty-four years until his death to Stuart Wallace Thayer (April 27, 1924 – May 27, 2005), a native of North Oxford, Massachusetts, who served as a commander in the United States Navy in both World War II and the Korean War. He held a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was for forty-four years employed at Lykes Brothers Steamship Company, from which he retired in 1992 as a company vice president; two years later, Lykes moved its headquarters to Tampa, Florida.

There are two surviving Thayer children, David Ross Thayer (born c. 1956) of Hercules, California, and Dana Rea Thayer Rieder (born c. 1965) of Kenner in Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans. A second son, Stephen Saunders Thayer, was born in March 1962, died in January 1963, and is interred at Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans. Thayer is the daughter of the late Lois Krause Rossbach and the sister of Joan Rossbach Liddell and Lois Rossbach Mosier.

Political life

At the 1988 Republican National Convention held in New Orleans, the conservative Thayer headed the platform committee on family issues. Despite her initial reluctance to support federally-funded child care programs, Thayer said that her party had little choice in the political atmosphere of that era but "to meet the needs of changing times."

She worked successfully to elect the Bush–Quayle ticket. Thayer continued to serve on the Republican platform committee until January 1996. Thayer held firm on the GOP pro-life plank and cut short a Moderate Republican at the 1988 platform hearings, Tanya Melich, then the executive director of the New York State Republican Family Committee, who lobbied unsuccessfully for a neutral platform stance on abortion.

In October 1991, Thayer was an unsuccessful candidate for the District 89 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives, She was defeated by Mitch Landrieu, a Democrat and future lieutenant governor and current second-term mayor of New Orleans. Thayer drew 4,939 votes (36.7 percent) to Landrieu's 8,522 (63.3 percent).

As the NFRW president, Thayer instituted a get-out-the-vote initiative which helped to retain Republican majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress but failed to unseat U.S. President Bill Clinton. She began the Betty Rendel Scholarship, offered to females engaged in the study of political science and named for a past federation president from Indiana. She also established the NFRW website during her year at the helm.

Along with another New Orleans Republican, Beth Rickey, Thayer was inducted in 2000 into the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business Hall of Fame at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish.

In 2011, Thayer relocated to Lilburn in Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, where she continued her involvment in the Republican Women's Clubs.

References

Preceded by Charlotte Mousel of California

President of the National Federation of Republican Women Marilyn Rossbach Thayer of Louisiana 1996-1997

Succeeded by Mary Jo Arndt of Illinois