John Stanford (general)

Stanford announced he had leukemia in April 1998; he was treated at Swedish Medical Center by physicians from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and died seven months later at age sixty.

In 1996, Stanford addressed the Democratic National Convention.

Without a background in educational administration, he was recruited in 1995 for the post of superintendent of the Seattle Public Schools, becoming the school district's first African-American administrator. Stanford believed the school system exhibited the lethargic characteristics of a monopoly and said it had "an inward kind of thinking that is more concerned about the comfort of the people who run the system than the public it is supposed to serve." Arriving in Seattle, Stanford reassigned one-third of the district's principals. He announced that poor customer service by staff would be punishable by firing, students who did not meet minimum academic requirements would be prevented from advancing to the next grade level, and that future school construction would be "on cost and on time." He also moved to end desegregation busing.

In 1991, Stanford was hired as executive of Fulton County, Georgia. As county executive in Atlanta, he earned praise from civic leaders, though progress on his agenda of cutting bureaucracy and waste in county government was often impeded by infighting among members of the county commission.

Born in Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, Stanford graduated from Yeadon High School and Pennsylvania State University, earning a B.A. in political science. In 1975, he received a master's degree in personnel management and administration from Central Michigan University.

Stanford entered the U.S. Army in 1961 after college and rose to the rank of major general (O-8). He served during the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm and also worked as executive assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Trained as an infantry officer and fixed-wing aviator, Stanford was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and several Air Medals.

John Henry Stanford (September 14, 1938 – November 28, 1998) was a United States Army major general who later became superintendent of public schools in Seattle.