Jack Coghill

John Bruce "Jack" Coghill (September 24, 1925 – February 13, 2019) was an American politician and businessman who was the sixth lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1990 to 1994, serving under Governor Walter Hickel. Both were members of the Alaskan Independence Party. Originally elected as the Republican Party's lieutenant governor nominee in 1990, Coghill had faced serious compatibility issues with running mate Arliss Sturgulewski. AIP chair Joe Vogler vacated his party's nominated slate of John Lindauer and Jerry Ward and replaced them with Wally Hickel and Coghill. While Hickel turned his back on the AIP and their platform almost immediately after taking office, Coghill remained loyal to the party, even becoming their gubernatorial nominee in 1994. Prior to these events, he was well known in Alaskan political circles as "Mr. Republican." Career Coghill was born in Fairbanks in 1925. In his prior political career, he was best known by many for being the mayor of Nenana in the interior of Alaska for 22 years. Coghill served in the territorial and state legislatures of Alaska for a number of years. He was elected to the territorial House in 1952 and again in 1956, representing the 4th District, which encompassed the interior and portions of southwestern Alaska. After statehood, he served as a senator in the first three state legislatures. Coghill ran unopposed in 1960 and did not run for re-election in 1964.