Ethan Book, a banker who launched a successful limousine service before making repeated attempts to gain elected office, passed away on Jan. 7 at the age of 74.
Book was born 1948 in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and graduated from California”™s Azusa Pacific College in 1972 with degree in business administration and minor in chemistry. While in college, he ran a small business focused on floor covering installations.
After college, Book served for two years with the U.S. Peace Corps in Colombia and continued his education at American Graduate School of International Management, earning a master”™s degree in 1977. After graduation, he joined Bank of America”™s Latin America operations and held positions in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic before returning to the U.S. in 1983.
Book joined Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. in 1985 as a vice presidents. Two years later, he became a financial consultant with Stratford-based McCallum Enterprises. In 1988, he started New England Limousine Service of Fairfield.
While Book was a successful businessman, he failed in multiple attempts to gain elected office as a Republican. He sought to become the state representative from Bridgeport”™s 128th District on four different occasions, and he tried to secure the 2010 Republican nomination for U.S. senator from Connecticut as a petitioning candidate. He also sought to win his party”™s endorsement for the 2019 Bridgeport mayoralty race and for the 2022 4th Congressional District race. While Book never expressed discouragement that his campaigns always ended in defeat, he nonetheless cautioned other business professionals from trying to become politicians.
“I think some people who have the potential for office are discouraged from office because of the difficulty in running and because of what they see as corruption in both parties of the political system,” he said in a June 2020 interview with the Business Journals. “I would speak to these business people and say that to run for political office, you almost need to be like a church worker who is called by God. And I think businessmen can be a great asset and would certainly be better than the excessive proportion of attorneys who became legislators ”” that can be a problem.”
