Thomas P. Salmon

Thomas Paul Salmon (born August 19, 1932) is a U.S. Democratic Party politician who served as the 75th Governor of Vermont from 1973 to 1977.

Salmon was born in Cleveland, Ohio, raised in Stow, Massachusetts, and attended Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts. He earned his undergraduate degree from Boston College in 1954, and earned a J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1957. He earned an L.L.M. (taxation) degree from New York University Law School in 1958. He married Madeleine G. Savaria and they had four children. His son, Thomas M. Salmon was elected as State Auditor of Vermont in 2006, defeating incumbent Randy Brock, serving in that post until 2013, and switched his political affiliation to Republican in 2009.

In 1959 Salmon was elected as Town Councilman for Rockingham, Vermont, serving until 1972. From 1963 to 1965, he served as a municipal court judge in Bellows Falls, Vermont. He was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from Rockingham in 1965, and from District 13-1 for 1966, from 1967 to 1968 and from 1969 to 1970. He served one year as House Minority Leader.

Governor of Vermont from 1973 to 1977, Salmon chaired the New England Governors' Conference for two years and was a member of the National Governors Association's Executive Committee. He was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senator from Vermont in 1976, losing to the incumbent Robert T. Stafford.

In 1991, Salmon was appointed interim president of the University of Vermont and served as the university's permanent president from 1993 to 1998. Since retiring as University President, he has practiced law in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Since 1983, he has also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Green Mountain Power Company.

Salmon is a Catholic; a member of the Elks, Moose, Knights of Columbus, Jaycees, Rotary, and the American Bar Association.