R. Budd Dwyer

**Robert Budd Dwyer** (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician. He served from 1971 to 1981 as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the state's 50th district. He served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981 to January 22, 1987. He was best known for his public suicide during a live press conference in 1987, the day before he was to be sentenced for bribery charges.

## Early life

Robert Budd Dwyer was born on November 21, 1939, in St. Charles, Missouri. He graduated in 1961 with an A.B. in Political Science and Accounting from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. After earning a master's degree in 1963, he taught social studies and coached football at a high school in Pennsylvania.

## Bribery conviction

In the early 1980s, Pennsylvania discovered its state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding. Many accounting firms competed for a multimillion-dollar contract to determine compensation to each employee.

In 1986, Dwyer was convicted of receiving a bribe from a California firm trying to gain the contract. Throughout his trial and after his conviction, he maintained that he was innocent of the charge and that he had been framed. Dwyer was scheduled to be sentenced on those charges on January 23, 1987, the day after his suicide.

## Suicide

On January 22, 1987, Dwyer called a news conference in the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg where he killed himself in front of the gathered reporters with a .357 caliber revolver. Dwyer's suicide was also broadcast to a wide television audience across the state of Pennsylvania.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: R. Budd Dwyer
- **image**: R. Budd Dwyer (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Dwyer
- **order**: 30th
- **office**: Treasurer of Pennsylvania
- **term start**: January 20, 1981
- **term end**: January 22, 1987
- **predecessor**: Robert E. Casey, Robert Casey
- **successor**: G. Davis Greene, Jr., Davis Greene
- **state senate2**: Pennsylvania
- **district2**: Pennsylvania Senate, District 50, 50th
- **constituency2**: Parts of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Mercer, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Crawford, and Erie County, Pennsylvania, Erie Counties
- **term start2**: January 5, 1971
- **term end2**: January 20, 1981
- **predecessor2**: James E. Willard, James Willard
- **successor2**: Roy Wilt
- **state house3**: Pennsylvania
- **district3**: Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 6, 6th
- **constituency3**: Parts of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Crawford County
- **term start3**: January 7, 1969
- **term end3**: November 30, 1970
- **predecessor3**: District Created
- **successor3**: H. Harrison Haskell, II, Harrison Haskell
- **state house4**: Pennsylvania
- **district4**: Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Crawford County
- **term start4**: January 5, 1965
- **term end4**: November 30, 1968
- **birth name**: Robert Budd Dwyer
- **birth place**: Saint Charles, Missouri, United States, U.S.
- **death place**: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- **spouse**: Joanne Dwyer (deceased)
- **party**: Republican Party (United States), Republican
- **relations**: Robert Malcolm Dwyer and Alice Mary Budd Dwyer (parents) (deceased); Ross Dwyer, Logan Seaburg (grandchildren)
- **children**: Robert (Rob), Dyan (Dee Dee)
- **alma mater**: Allegheny College
- **profession**: Teacher, politician
- **status**: Dead (Suicide by gunshot)