Sawyer supported free enterprise, low taxes, limited government, and the Republican Party.
To recognize his outstanding contribution to journalism, Sawyer was inducted into the Oregon Newspaper Hall of Fame.
In October 1910, Sawyer disappeared along with the wife of his Cambridge neighbor and fellow Brandeis Dunbar & Nutter attorney Edward F. McClennen.
Newspaper articles reported that Sawyer and Mary McClennen had been spending a lot of time together since the previous summer.
Eventually, Putnam caught Sawyer delivering one of his anonymous articles and hired him as an associate editor.
[3] Sawyer was a champion of free enterprise, low taxes, limited government, and the Republican Party.
[4] Sawyer was a conservationist, who used his influence as a newspaper publisher to help preserve Oregon’s natural resources.
Sawyer also championed the establishment of numerous state parks as well as protecting key portions of the John Day Fossil Beds.
[3][4] After selling the Bend Bulletin, Sawyer remained active in public affairs and continued to support conservation groups, serving on numerous boards.
In the mid-1950s, he served on the Second Hoover Commission, a national task force that assessed water and power resources within the United States.