Bill Doyle, who served in the Senate for 48 years, died last week.

Doyle was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected 23 times. He served until 2017.

Doyle, an advocate of local government, spent much of his legislative career as chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations.

He was also known for his annual Town Meeting Day poll. The poll, while not scientific, was a useful source of public opinion in the state. Doyle’s poll began in 1969 as a questionnaire about the sales tax proposed by then-Governor Deane Davis, and he expanded it in subsequent years.

“The information was so valuable and so well received that I said, ‘Why not find out what people think about these issues?'” Doyle said of the survey in a 2014 interview with then-Vermont Public Radio.

“Why shouldn’t you know where the people you represent stand on certain issues? It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “I was so impressed by the quality of the responses – not just the numbers, but the letters and statements they included.”

Doyle taught political science at Johnson State College for 60 years and retired in 2018. Many of his students went on to become public servants themselves.

He is also known as the author of Vermont’s political tradition: And those who contributed to ita respected history of the state’s politics, first published in 1984.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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