GEORGE A. SINNER grew up in Casselton, North Dakota. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. John’s University in 1950. He served on active duty with the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and 1952. He was elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1962 and served until 1967. He was a member of the State Board of Higher Education from 1967 to 1974 and was board chair in 1970. He was the driving force behind the Tri-College University. In 1971-1972, he was a delegate to the North Dakota Constitutional Convention. From 1975 to 1979 he was president of the board for the River Valley Sugar Beet Growers Association. He also was the chief proponent and the first chair of the Northern Crops Institute, a four-state international marketing institute located in Fargo, North Dakota. He was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1982. In November 1984, he was elected governor and he was reelected in 1988. During his tenure as governor, he chaired the 29-state Interstate Oil Compact Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and the Western Governors’ Association.