John Dennis Spellman (December 29, 1926 – January 16, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 18th governor of Washington U.S. state from 1981 to 1985 and as the first King County executive from 1969 to 1981.

[4][7] Spellman was raised in the Eastside suburbs of Hunts Point and Bellevue with his sister Mary;[5] his older brother David Bartholomew was killed during the Korean War.

[2] Spellman met his wife Lois Elizabeth Murphy (1927–2018), who was from Havre, Montana, in a Spanish class while attending Seattle University;[9][10] the two were married in 1954 and had six children together, Margo, Bart, David, Jeffrey, Teresa and Kat.

[2] Spellman first ran for governor in 1976 and was the top Republican in the state's blanket primary, but lost the general election to Democrat Dixy Lee Ray.

[16] During Spellman's four-year term of office, Washington's economy suffered a serious recession marked by rising unemployment and disappointing tax revenues.

[15] The State Legislature was deeply divided over how to address an alarming revenue shortfall, but did agree to an increase in Washington's statewide sales tax rate from 5.5% to 6.5%.

[15] Against pressure from business groups and many legislators, he vetoed a bill permitting for an environmentally-risky development project by Chicago Bridge & Iron in a sensitive shoreline area of Whatcom County.

[19] He successfully blocked a proposed oil pipeline that would have crossed under the Puget Sound over potential endangerment of the waterway's ecology and refused to back down amidst public support of the project.

[2] In the November 1984 general election, Spellman was defeated by Booth Gardner, and no Republican has served as governor of Washington since.

[27] He was admitted to Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle for treatment and died of pneumonia on the morning of January 16, 2018, at the age of 91.