Shearer served as Republican chair during the 1970s after holding several party positions throughout the 1960s.

After his stint as chairman, he could be seen nearly every morning at Lamb's Grill in downtown Salt Lake City having coffee with former Democratic State chairman and political rival John Klass. When Klass became terminally ill, Shearer was at his hospital bedside every day until he died, friends said.

"Kent was one of the most decent people I've ever known in politics," said former State Republican Party Executive Director Dave Hansen.

He got along with everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, added Hansen.

"He represents the era of decency in politics," said Dick Richards, who preceded Shearer as state chairman. "His style of politics is gone. He was never mean or cantankerous, like you see in politicians today."

"He's the one who persuaded me to run for the Senate," said former Sen. Jake Garn. "So if you want to blame anyone for me being in the Senate, blame him."

Shearer was an attorney who excelled in both civil and military law, serving in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Besides his own career as a party officer, he was the prime political adviser to his wife Alice Shearer, who served on the Salt Lake City Council and ran for Congress in the 1980s.

"I became friends with Alice in 1970," said State Director of Tourism Leigh von der Esch. "You couldn't know Alice very long without knowing Kent. The two were just a partnership."

Von der Esch remembers his wit and love of books, "and his knowledge of the subtleties of the U.S. Constitution."

Shearer wrote a political column for the Enterprise, a Salt Lake City weekly newspaper, for 30 years, an endeavor that will be sorely missed by its publisher George Gregerson.

"There was an Elizabethan eloquence to his language," said Gregerson. "He was just a delight to read." Shearer continued writing the column after he moved to Oregon a decade ago.

Shearer was born in Russell, Kan. He married Alice in 1952.

He is survived by son Edward, of Portland, Ore., and two grandchildren, as well as a sister, Norma Jane, of Kansas City, Kan. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Alice and daughter Lorraine Marie.

Services are pending.