Biography of California Governor Jerry Brown
Edmund G. Brown Jr., more commonly known as Jerry, is the current governor of California, holding the title for longest cumulative length of time served as governor. He is married to his first and only wife, Anne Gust Brown.
Born April 7, 1938, Brown is a California native, having grown up in San Francisco. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1955, and attended the University of Santa Clara before transferring to the Jesuit seminary Sacred Heart Novitiate, in 1956. Then in 1960, he left the Society of Jesus and began school at the University of California at Berkeley, receiving his B.A. in Classics, and going on to enroll at Yale Law School, from which he graduated in 1964 and went on to begin his professional career.
Brown started off as a law clerk at the California Supreme Court, and eventually moved to Los Angeles to begin working at a law firm. He was elected in 1969 to the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, and did so well that he placed first out of 124. His political career began as he was elected California Secretary of State in 1970, and elected Governor not long after in 1974, then reelected in 1978.
While governing, Brown successfully created 1.9 million new jobs (nearly double the national rate), abolished multiple taxes, and made California a forerunner in the country’s efforts for environmental protection. State funding for higher education was doubled, while also cutting taxes and reducing the number of state employees.
After his term as governor ended, Brown continued to hold various politics offices and make improvements in California. He was elected for his third gubernatorial term in 2010. Since then, he has continued to make progress in environmental initiatives, cut the state budget, improve California’s credit rating, and is striving to protect education and public safety funds.
Sources:
United States. Governor. Jerry Brown Biography. Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., n.d. Web. <https://www.gov.ca.gov/m_about.php>.
York, Anthony. “Jerry Brown Poised to Become State’s Longest-serving Governor.” The Los Angeles Times. 2 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Sept. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/02/local/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-governor-20131002>.
