Earl Daniel Desmond (August 26, 1895 – May 26, 1958) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Democratic politician. Desmond was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. He subsequently became a member of the California legislature for the 19th District and in 1941 was Speaker pro Tem of the California State Assembly. Desmond is chiefly remembered for his efforts in relation to the establishment of

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

, in 1947. Desmond convinced the Senate's finance committee to withhold funding for the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

until he had a commitment. Eleven of his own children and grandchildren graduated from the university, which, in recognition of his contribution, named one of its halls of residence after him. Earl D. Desmond died in office at Sacramento, aged 62. His son, Louis N. Desmond (1926-2012), later served as Deputy District Attorney, Sacramento County.

References

United States Army personnel of World War I 1895 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Democratic Party California state senators {{california-CAAssembly-stub