Richard Tarrant

Richard Edward Tarrant, (born August 6, 1942 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American businessman, millionaire, and politician. Most recently, he was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from the state of Vermont (see Vermont United States Senate election, 2006) in 2006, but lost the election to Representative Bernie Sanders. Tarrant and his wife reside in Colchester where he is currently working on his charitable foundation.

Early life

Tarrant graduated from Saint Michael's College in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics. In college he was a first-team All-America in basketball and led the Purple Knights to the Final Four of the 1965 NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament, where they were defeated 93-70 by the University of Evansville, who had Jerry Sloan and Larry Humes, both All-Americans. He was drafted by the world champion Boston Celtics, but was cut before the first game of the season. He went to work for IBM in Burlington, Vermont selling computer equipment to the northern part of the state.

Business career

In 1969, using funds from a Small Business Administration loan and with partners Robert Hoehl and, later, Paul Egerman, Tarrant founded Burlington Data Processing (BDP) corporation. The company changed its name to Interpretive Data System (IDS) and later to IDX Systems Corporation. BDP initially provided payroll and claims processing for physicians. By 2005, IDX had thousands of contracts in doctors offices across the country, and additionally provided computer technology for much of the United Kingdom's medical centers. Between 1995 and 2005, Tarrant was the chairman of the board of IDX. In 2005, IDX was purchased by General Electric for $1.2 billion. He currently resides in Colchester, VT with his wife where he works with his charitable foundation.

Tarrant served as a member of the University of Vermont's Board of Trustees for several years and on the Saint Michael's College Board of Trustees. Tarrant donated funds to Saint Michael's for a new athletic center which was named in his parents'honor.

Philanthropy

Tarrant and his wife have created the Richard E. and Deborah L. Tarrant Foundation [http://www.tarrantfoundation.org] , which make grants intended to enrich the quality of life and communities throughout Vermont. According to the organization's website, "Our primary areas of focus are basic human services, education and community-based grantmaking." In 2005 the foundation was listed by the Grantsmanship Center [http://www.tgci.com] as one of the top 40 Vermont foundations in charitable giving. It is worth noting, however, that the foundation is prohibited from making any donations to pro-choice groups.

Most recently, Tarrant's foundation invested in the Milton public school system where they provided monetary support for a pilot program that gave students an opportunity to learn at different paces. This has been called "Home School at School".

In 2007, Tarrant's foundation gave $1 million dollars towards creation of a $1.8 million community center in Winooski, Vermont. [ [http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070711/NEWS02/707110304/1007/rss02 Burlington Free Press.com | Local/Vermont ] ]

2006 campaign for U.S. Senate

In 2005, Tarrant announced his candidacy for the US Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Senator Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont). On September 12, 2006, he won the Republican nomination, defeating US Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Parke and marijuana legalization activist Cris Ericson. Tarrant faced Independent Representative Bernie Sanders in the November general election. Sanders, who won the Democratic nomination but ran as an Independent, defeated Tarrant by 33 percentage points [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/magazine/21Sanders.t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all] . The race proved to be the most expensive race in Vermont history with both candidates spending close to $13 million. Tarrant spent roughly $7 million of his own money in the race and Sanders raised roughly $6.5 million and spent most of it. Tarrant's campaign was remarkable for its saturation of radio and television with a serial biography of the candidate and attack ads of Sanders.

External links

* [http://www.tarrant06.com/ Official campaign website]
* [http://ontheissues.org/Senate/Richard_Tarrant.htm OnTheIssues]
* [http://www2.smcvt.edu/athletics/Centennial/tarrant.htm Profile of basketball career] by Saint Michael's College
* [http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/specialnews/fahc/story35.htm Eight trustees quit Fletcher Allen board]
* [http://www2.cctv.org/rss/index.php?cat=3.ElectionDebatesandForums&page=2 Television debate, August 24, 2006, between candidates Rich Tarrant and Cris Ericson on CCTV (podcast)] , hosted by Marc Johnson