William Hanes Ayres (February 5, 1916 – December 27, 2000) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio.
William H. Ayres was born in Eagle Rock, Virginia. He moved with his parents to West Virginia and later to Lorain County, Ohio. He attended the Weller Township High School, and graduated from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1936. He worked as a salesman for heating equipment in Akron, Ohio, from 1936 tot 1944. During the Second World War served as a private in the United States Army until discharged December 17, 1945. He was president of the Ayres Heating & Insulation Co., Akron, Ohio, since 1946.
Ayres was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second and to the nine succeeding Congresses. Ayres was well regarded by House members of both parties. He usually did not list his party affiliation on his campaign literature instead listing himself as "Your Congressman." He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1970 to the Ninety-second Congress defeated by John Seiberling, an Akron Democrat and scion. He died of heart and kidney ailments on December 27, 2000, in Columbia, Maryland. Interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Walter B. Huber |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 14th congressional district 1951 - 1971 |
Succeeded by John F. Seiberling |