Our History

About YR Alumni Network

Our association of old friends and convention adversaries of the YRs was re-organized in 2006 by former YRNF Chairman Terry T. Campo who serves as President of the Network to be a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation. The YR Alumni Network seeks to unite intersecting circles of friends and colleagues while promoting young leaders from local, state and national public service. Join us today by visiting our Membership Page or write us for more information at info@yralumni.net

In Memoriam: Scholarship Honors Absent Friends

Please join us in celebrating the lives of our friends and colleagues by sharing their legacy, and by contributing to the continuing efforts they supported to educate, train and promote young political leaders and volunteers. Your financial donation will provide scholarship funds for an individual to attend the next YRLC in Washington, D.C. in their recognition. Each scholarship is proposed to cost $250 and you may contribute any amount.

Click here to visit our support page to support this cause.

Thank you! Your contribution will be acknowledged by both the YR Alumni Network and the Young Republican National Federation. Please complete the following information so that we might process your contribution and provide all monies to the YRLC Scholarship Fund account. Your commitment will also be acknowledged to the friends and family of the Named Scholarship so they too will know how much we miss Richard, Audrey, Lee and others.

Read more about Richard, Audrey, and Lee below and again, thanks for your contribution.

Terry T. Campo, President
YR ALUMNI NETWORK
YRNF Chairman 1989-91

In Memoriam: Richard L. Jacobs, YRNF Chairman 1987-89

Richard Lewis Jacobs, 55, of Tennessee died Friday, July 21, 2006 in his hometown of Jackson, TN. He will be remembered by family and friends for his warm personality, radiant smile, and contagious laughter, sense of humor, strong intellect, generosity and humility.

Richard, the son of Ellida Sadler Fri and George Jacobs, grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, received his undergraduate degree from Whittier College in California and received his MBA from Vanderbilt University. Soon after college he joined his stepfather James L. Fri, Jr., in River Oil Company, eventually becoming Chairman and President. In addition, he was a part owner of Touchstone, Inc. and a Director of First Tennessee Bank, Jackson. Richard's interest in politics and policy lead him to many leadership posts in YRs including local, state, national and international. Richard served as President of the National Young Republicans from 1987 to 1989 and ran for Congress in 1988.

His varied interests included hosting a radio broadcast for several years, acting in community theater and assisting many charities. Richard's sense of humor was always evident. He offered himself for a date in a charity auction where his wife Misola purchased the date. They were married in 1998. Since that time he devoted himself to being a loving husband and father. Misola Jacobs said of Richard, 'I have never seen an angel, but he was close to being one.'

He is survived by his wife and two stepdaughters, Asia and Jade Ferguson; his stepfather, James L. Fri, Jr.; his adopted sister Frances Harris and her husband Manuel Harris; and four step siblings.

In Memoriam: Audrey Merkin, YRNF Co-Chairman 1987-89

Audrey Robin Merkin, 52, of Nevada passed away Friday, March 3, 2006. She was born November 4, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois and resided in Las Vegas, NV most of her adult life. Audrey is remembered by family and friends for her immense generosity, her love of fashion and all things shopping as well as her commitment to lifelong volunteerism. She was a graduate of Las Vegas High School and San Diego State University in California.

Audrey was active in Republican politics throughout her life, serving as Co-Chairman and Executive Director of the National Young Republicans. She also served as the chairman of the California National Committee of Women in Politics and served as a delegate to five Republican National Conventions. At the behest of the Republicans, she traveled to Taiwan and Eastern Europe as an observer of the political process.

She had served for many years as a member of the Board of Directors of Temple Beth Shalom, a cause and a community for which she was even more intensely dedicated than she was to the cause of Republican politics.

She is survived by her parents, Albert and Eunice Merkin, her sister Ellen Merkin, nephews Aaron and Seth, all of Las Vegas; her brother Joseph Merkin, nieces Sara and Jennifer, all of Reno.

In Memoriam: Lee Atwater, YR Alum and RNC Chairman 1989-90

Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater, 40, of Washington, D.C. passed away from an inoperable brain tumor on March 29, 1991. Born February 26, 1951 in Atlanta, Georgia, Lee was best known as the political consultant responsible for the "Southern Strategy" which elected George Herbert Walker Bush as the 41st President of the United States. Lee is remembered by family and friends for his gregarious personality, his musical talent as a bluesman and guitarist with The Upsetters Revue, as well as his love of R&B and BBQ. He was a graduate of Newberry College, a small private Lutheran institution in South Carolina.

Lee was infamous for his aggressive tactics, serving as a consultant for Congressional candidate Floyd Spence and assisting in the re-election of Ronald Reagan in 1984. His most notable campaign was the 1988 presidential election which included the Willie Horton campaign ad leading to the defeat of Massachusetts' Governor Michael Dukakis. During that election, future President George W. Bush took an office across the hall from Lee. Of that time, Barbara Bush, in her memoir, states that W and Lee became "great friends." And after the successful national campaign of 1988, Lee was named Chairman of the Republican National Committee where he served until the time his illness was diagnosed.

Lee had converted to Catholicism before his death and is survived by his wife Sally, a true friend and leader of the YR Alumni Network.

Our Favorite Stories

Do you have a favorite convention story to tell? Have you carried the YR tradition forward? Write us at info@yralumni.net to share your story and watch for it to appear here.

About YRNF

America's Oldest Political Youth Organization is the Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) with a seventy year history in organizing, educating and volunteering our nation's best and brightest. We met each other as Young Republicans who were once 18-40 years old and active in local, state and national politics. Check out the impact that current YRNF leaders are having on the direction of our country by visiting www.yrnf.com .

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