Richard Headlee

Richard Harold Headlee (May 16, 1930 – November 9, 2004) was the author of the Headee Amendment. It requires a voters to approve many tax increases in Michigan.

He was also the Republican candidate for Governor of Michigan in the 1982 election.

Headlee was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to William Clark and Violet Lunn Headlee and grew up in Richfield, Utah. He graduated from Utah State University in 1953. In 1949 Headlee married his high school sweetheart, Mary Elaine Mendenhall. They had four sons and five daughters.

After graduating from college, Headlee joined the US military and was stationed in Mannheim, Germany. He then came to Bountiful, Utah, where he joined the Jaycees and eventually became its national president in 1963.

In 1964, Headlee moved to Michigan. That year, he was appointed by Governor George Romney to run a program for Michigan servicemen in Vietnam. In 1966, Headlee served as Romney's campaign manager. Outworked by Romney, Headlee declined to investigate the LDS Church. He was baptized in 1966 and he was sealed to his wife, a lifelong church member, and his children in 1967 in the Salt Lake Temple.

In 1978, Headlee organized the effort that brought about the Headlee Amendment. The Republican candidate for governor of Michigan in 1982, he lost to Jim Blanchard.

In 1987, Headlee was the recipient of a heart transplant from a victim of a motorcycle accident in Texas.

In the LDS Church, Headlee served twice as a bishop, ten years in a stake presidency and as a Regional Representative.

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