Wallace Glenn Wilkinson (December 12, 1941–July 5, 2002) was a Kentucky businessman who made a fortune with college bookstores, and Governor of Kentucky, 1987-1991.
Born in Casey County, Kentucky, Wilkinson graduated from Liberty High School in 1959. He transferred from Campbellsville College to the University of Kentucky and began dating fellow student Martha Carol Stafford, whom he had known in high school. They were married in 1960 and both left college to open The Kentucky Paperback Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky, which evolved into Wallace's Bookstore and Wallace's Book Company, a used texbook management company. Wallace and Martha had two children: Wallace Glenn Wilkinson, Jr. and Andrew Wilkinson.
Wallace Wilkinson entered the 1987 Democratic primary for governor of Kentucky as an unknown running against a field that included two previous Kentucky governors, John Y. Brown, Jr. and Julian Carroll, incumbent Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear, and Grady Stumbo, cabinet secretary for Governor Martha Layne Collins. Wilkinson financed his own campaign and campaign manager Danny Briscoe suggested that a campaign consultant be hired. After a few interviews, a then-unknown political consultant named James Carville was hired; according to Wilkinson, " came to be one of my most trusted advisors."
Powered by advertisements touting Wilkinson's proposed state lottery, Wilkinson won a stunning upset in the primary and coasted to a landslide victory over the Republican nominee, state representative John Harper. Wilkinson won the election by a margin of 231,533 votes, carrying 115 of Kentucky's 120 counties. His margin of 64.9% of the vote is the largest percentage by any Kentucky gubernatorial candidate in the 20th century.
Wilkinson's term saw passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Wilkinson also secured legislation to establish a state lottery. The Wilkinson administration was dogged by ethical questions that eventually resulted in prosecution of some members. Wilkinson vigorously sought a constitutional amendment to allow gubernatorial succession but insisted that it include him, and the Kentucky General Assembly was unwilling to grant that. As his term wound down, his wife Martha Wilkinson ran in the 1991 Democratic primary against Lieutenant Governor Brereton Jones, Lexington mayor Scotty Baesler, and Dr. Floyd G. Poore. Trailing in the polls, Martha Wilkinson withdrew prior to the primary which Jones won en route to winning the general election that fall. Among the other factors affecting Martha's aborted campaign was the fact that Wallace had been diagnosed with lymphoma in March 1991.
After his service as governor, Wilkinson's interest in running for another non-consecutive term as governor appeared to be dampened by the system of public financing that Kentucky had in place at that time for gubernatorial elections. He and Martha moved to Naples, Florida for retirement from public life.
The Wilkinson's businesses began to have serious problems in the 1990s and by 2002 his bookstore empire was in bankruptcy. He entered St. Joseph's Hospital, in Lexington on May 26, 2002, suffering from chest pains, shortness of breath, and general weakness. He was scheduled for surgery to correct arterial blockages when another lymphatic mass was discovered. In June, he was admitted again to St. Joseph's Hospital for chemotherapy treatments. Wilkinson died on July 5, 2002 at St. Joseph's Hospital, the day after suffering a stroke. He is buried in Pensacola, Florida.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_G._Wilkinson"
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