Margaret Alexander Parker

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 21, 2006

SALISBURY – Margaret Charlotte Alexander Parker, 48, a Salisbury native who raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Republican political candidates over the past 25 years and twice worked as finance director of the Republican National Committee, died of complications from leukemia Nov. 30, 2006, at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Ms. Alexander Parker helped elect presidents from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, countless Republican members of Congress, governors and other state officeholders. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;She was the party’s finance director from 1989 to 1993 and then again from 2001 to 2005, when she organized and led the team that shattered Republican records for direct mail, telemarketing and major-donor fundraising – records that she herself set in her earlier term. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Ms. Alexander Parker came to Washington in 1980 to work for the Republican National Committee as a part-time secretary and within a few years she was finance director of GOPAC and deputy director of major-donor fundraising for the 1984 reelection campaign of President Reagan. She was the national finance director of the & quot;George H.W. Bush for President Committee & quot; from 1987 to 1989 and the national deputy finance chairman of the 1992 Bush presidential campaign. She also worked on California Gov. Pete Wilson’s unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1995. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Ms. Alexander Parker was co-founder and managing partner of Advantage Inc., a national political, fundraising and direct-marketing consulting firm, from 1999 to 2004. In 2005, she restarted her own fundraising company, The Alexander Company. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Born in Salisbury, N.C., she attended Salem College and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority and the College Republicans. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Ms. Alexander Parker was appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She was a member of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday school. She was a member of the board of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, the National Women’s History Museum and the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Survivors include her husband of 12 years, Anthony Weyburn Parker of Washington; a stepson, Preston Weyburn Parker of San Diego; her mother, Doris Turner Alexander of Salisbury; her sister, Doris Alexander Dyer of Chapel Hill; and two brothers, Jake Alexander of Salisbury and Ellis Alexander of Norcross, Ga. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Service: A graveside service will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, 2006, at City Memorial Park Cemetery conducted by Dr. Thomas L. Griffis, minister of First United Methodist Church, Salisbury. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Visitation: The family will see friends following the services at the home of her brother, Jake Alexander, at 8 Woodland Road, Salisbury. & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Memorials: Memorials may be made to First United Methodist, 217 S. Church St., Salisbury, NC 28144 & lt;br & gt; & lt;br & gt;Summersett Funeral Home is handling the services for the family.