Frank Ray Keyser Papers

Frank Ray Keyser Jr. was the Governor of Vermont from 1961 to 1963. He was born in Chelsea, Vermont in 1927 and attended Montpelier High School, graduating in 1945. Keyser served in the US Navy in World War II. He and attended Tufts University, graduating in 1950, and Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1952. After working as a lawyer in Chelsea with Wilson and Keyser, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives where he served from 1955 to 1960. From 1959 to 1960, Keyser held the role of Speaker. He was elected Vermont’s youngest governor at age 33 in 1961. Keyser was defeated for reelection by Democrat Philip H. Hoff in 1962, after which he joined the Vermont Marble company, rising to the position of president (1970-78) and Chairman (1978-79). In 1980, he organized the Rutland-based law office of Keyser and Crowley. He also served on the board of directors of numerous businesses, including the Central Vermont Railway, Inc., the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Union Fire Insurance Company. Governor Keyser returned to public service as a Board Member of the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston from 1967-1972 and as a member of the Governors Council of Economic Advisors from 1991-1997. He has served as a Director and Chairman of numerous for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Keyser has three children. His wife Joan Friedgen (m. 1950) predeceased him in 2002.