John Dalton; Former Virginia Governor

Former Gov. John N. Dalton, who began his political career by handing out bumper stickers for his father and as an adult was credited with strengthening the Republican Party in a state long dominated by Democrats, died Wednesday of cancer. He was 55.

Dalton, who served as governor from 1977 to 1981, had been admitted to the Medical College of Virginia Hospital on Tuesday for treatment of the disease that cost him part of his right lung three years ago.

He died of adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer frequently found in nonsmokers, which Dalton was.

Dalton succeeded Mills Godwin as governor. Godwin earlier held the office as a Democrat from 1965 to 1969. Serving between Godwin’s terms was Linwood Holton, whose victorious campaign in 1969 made him the first Republican governor of 20th-Century Virginia.

A millionaire lawyer, businessman and farmer whose father had been a state senator and federal district judge, Dalton rejected efforts by the GOP to draft him for a second term in 1985 because of his cancer.

Dalton’s death comes as the GOP is struggling to recover from its rout in the 1985 state election, when Democrats captured the top three elective offices--governor, attorney general and lieutenant governor.

Thomas R. Morris, a professor of political science at the University of Richmond, said Dalton’s legacy was to delegate authority to his Cabinet secretaries.

“What he did was use that Cabinet form of government and management perspective to halt the growth in state government,” Morris said. “He saw that as his No. 1 priority.”