Anthony Joseph "Tony" Celebrezze Jr. (September 8, 1941 – July 4, 2003) was an American politician of the

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, who served as

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost. History The office of the attor ...

Ohio Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Ohio is an elected statewide official in the State of Ohio. The Secretary of state is responsible for overseeing elections in the state; registering business entities (corporations, etc.) and granting them the author ...

and an Ohio State Senator. He was the son of Anthony J. Celebrezze, and part of the Celebrezze political dynasty, which was prominent in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

in particular and statewide in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

throughout the second half of the 20th century and early 2000s.

Early life and education

Anthony Joseph Celebrezze was born to Anthony J. Celebrezze and Anne M. Celebrezze in 1941. Tony was the oldest of three, along with sisters Jean Ann (Celebrezze) Porto, and Susan Marie (Celebrezze) Sullivan. Anthony Joseph Celebrezze graduated from John Marshall High School in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1963, Tony graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

. Tony served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for five years and was awarded the

Navy Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

. In 1974, Anthony Joseph Celebrezze was awarded a Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland State University.

Political career

Ohio state senator

Anthony Joseph Celebrezze was elected an Ohio state senator in 1974. While in the Ohio General Assembly, Tony was known for his honesty and fair dealing. In 1978, Anthony Joseph Celebrezze defeated incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Ted W. Brown in the election for

. Tony served as Ohio secretary of state from 1979 to 1983.

Attorney general

In 1982, Anthony Joseph Celebrezze ran for

, facing off against by

Charles R. Saxbe, a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

. Both were the sons of former Presidential Cabinet members with good

name recognition In politics, name recognition is the ability a voter has to identify a candidate's name due to a certain amount of previous exposure through various campaigning methods. It can be described as the awareness voters have about specific candidates r ...

. Tony would beat Saxbe by a margin of nearly two-to-one (2,036,243 to 1,203,797). Anthony Joseph Celebrezze easily won re-election in 1986 by defeating Barry Levey, 1,821,587 to 1,222,102. While serving as attorney general, Anthony Joseph Celebrezze fought a legal battle against the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

over the nuclear and chemical pollution at the Fernald nuclear weapons plant, which for years had been kept secret under the disguise of the

Fernald Feed Materials Production Center The Fernald Feed Materials Production Center (commonly referred to simply as Fernald or later NLO) is a Superfund site located within Crosby Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, as well as Ross Township in Butler County, Ohio. It was a uranium ...

. The legal victory gave the Ohio state government the right to regulate the clean-up of the site.

Run for governor

In 1990, Celebrezze ran for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

to replace Richard F. Celeste, who was barred from running for a third consecutive term due to term limits. For lieutenant governor, Celebrezze chose Eugene Branstool, an Ohio state senator who was a mid-state farmer from

Utica, Ohio Utica is a village in Knox and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, along the North Fork of the Licking River. The population was 2,132 at the 2010 census. The village is home to the general headquarters (HQ) of the Velvet Ice Cream Com ...

. The pair easily won the Democratic primary over Michael Hugh Lord and Judy Wynn Parker (683,932 to 131,564). For the general election, Celebrezze faced a formidable Republican foe, George Voinovich, the popular out-going Mayor of Cleveland. Voinovich's running mate was Mike DeWine, a U.S. Congressman from

Cedarville, Ohio Cedarville is a village in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The village is within the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,019 at the 2010 census. History Cedarville was originally known as Milford, and under the latter ...

. Celebrezze lost in a landslide (1,938,103 to 1,539,416). Some analysts attribute his loss, in part, to Celebrezze's much-criticized switch from his long-held

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...

views to a pro-choice position. However, the combination of Voinovich and DeWine was balanced better geographically, whereby Voinovich took the northeast Ohio votes from Celebrezze's natural base and DeWine adding the votes from down-state urban areas in the southeast such as

Greater Dayton The Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Greater Dayton and the Miami Valley, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in the Miami Valley region of Ohio and is anchored by the cit ...

and

Greater Cincinnati The Cincinnati metropolitan area and also known as the Cincinnati Tri-State area, or Greater Cincinnati) is a metropolitan area centered on Cincinnati and including surrounding counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The area ...

After politics

Celebrezze was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in 1998. In April 2001, Celebrezze joined Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter, a law firm based in Columbus, Ohio.

Personal life

Celebrezze and his wife, the former Louisa Godwin, had five children. Celebrezze died on July 4, 2003, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

after finishing third in a Legend Car auto race at Shadybowl Speedway in

De Graff, Ohio De Graff is a village (United States)#Ohio, village located in Logan County, Ohio, Logan County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,285 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History De Graff was named in honor of a railroad officia ...

.Congressional Record
/ref> Celebrezze's cousins were former Ohio Chief Justice

Frank Celebrezze Frank D. Celebrezze Jr. (November 13, 1928 – March 21, 2010) was an American politician and jurist of the Ohio Democratic party, having served as Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. He was elected as a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court i ...

and former Ohio Supreme Court Judge James Celebrezze. Celebrezze was the father of Anthony J. Celebrezze III and the cousin of Ohio appeals court judge Frank D. Celebrezze III. His uncle was Frank D. Celebrezze Sr.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Celebrezze, Anthony J. Jr. 1941 births 2003 deaths Cleveland–Marshall College of Law alumni American prosecutors Secretaries of State of Ohio Ohio Attorneys General Democratic Party Ohio state senators Lawyers from Cleveland Military personnel from Cleveland United States Naval Academy alumni Celebrezze family 20th-century American politicians Politicians from Cleveland 20th-century American lawyers American people of Italian descent