Four-term North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, a leader in education reform, dies at 88
By GARY D. ROBERTSON Updated 5:07 PM PST, December 18, 2025
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Four-term North Carolina Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt, a towering figure in North Carolina politics in the late 20th century who helped leaders from both major parties strive for public education reform, died Thursday at the age of 88, his daughter Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt announced.
Hunt, whose career provided a prototype for the modern “education governor,” served an unprecedented 16 years as governor as the state received the rewards and stings of shifting from textiles and tobacco to a high-tech economy.
Rachel Hunt’s office said that her father died peacefully Thursday at his Wilson County home.
“He devoted his life to serving the people of North Carolina, guided by a belief that public service should expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and always put people first,” Rachel Hunt said in a news release that also referenced “my beloved daddy and hero.”
Considered a business-oriented progressive, Hunt was a giant in state government and influential in the national education reform movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He was first elected governor in 1976 and, after a constitutional change, became the first North Carolina governor elected to successive four-year terms.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: North Carolina’s Jim Hunt, influential ‘education governor,’ dies at 88 | AP News
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