Jack R. Fenton (August 7, 1916 – November 6, 2007) was an American politician who represented

California's 51st State Assembly district California's 51st State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Rick Zbur of Los Angeles. District profile The district encompasses parts of western Los Angeles, as well as ...

and

California's 59th State Assembly district California's 59th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles. District profile The district encompasses most of South Los Angeles, ce ...

16 years in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

. He was part of the Democratic leadership,

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

in 1972, and helped establish

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

's occupational health and safety regime.

Personal

His parents were

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

. His father operated a

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

. He earned a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in 1939 from what was then called Brockport State Normal School, and later studied at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1941, and served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After his discharge, he entered Loyola Law School in 1945, and was graduated in 1949. Also in 1945, he married Betty Byer who subsequently bore him four children. He established a law practice in

Montebello, California Montebello (Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an independent city. east of downtown Los Angeles. It is ...

in 1949. Fenton belonged to many organizations, including the Optimist Club,

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

and

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

. He received the ''

George Moscone George Richard Moscone (; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known ...

Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Service'' in 1978, fro
an association of consumer lawyers
in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He was appointed a member of the Judicial Council of California in 1979.

Political career

When John Moreno, the first term

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

Assemblyman for the 51st District sought reelection, he faced both Dionisio Morales and Jack Fenton. With the chicano vote split, Fenton won the party's nomination in the

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

. He carried the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

with 69% of the vote. He continued to represent Montebello, re-elected to seven more two year terms (from 1974, in the 59th Assembly District.) In the legislature, Fenton championed consumers, veterans, and labor (including farm workers.) After Jess Unruh declared his candidacy 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 ...

in 1969, Fenton and George N. Zenovich encouraged Unruh (at first unsuccessfully) to resign as party leader in the Assembly. Following an industrial accident on June 24, 1971, when a

methane gas Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

explosion fatal to seventeen workers occurred in the California Water Project's Sylmar tunnel, Fenton led the investigation in the Assembly's Committee on Industrial Safety. His investigation, and civil litigation, found negligence by the contractor (

Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company (a.k.a. Lockheed Shipbuilding), was a shipyard in Seattle, Washington with Yard 1 on Harbor Island and Yard 2 at what is now Jack Block Park at Seattle Terminal 5, both at the mouth of the West Wate ...

) and state inspectors. He was a leader promoting statutory change, notably the June 1973 California Occupational Safety and Health Act. Hospitals and staff threatened to cease organ transplantation activity in 1973 when its legal basis came into question. Criminal defense attorneys argued that harvesting a victim's organs while his heart was still beating caused death, not their clients. Dixon Arnett (R- Redwood City) introduced emergency legislation to recognize death when brain activity ceased. He was three votes short of the required

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

when he enlisted Jack Fenton, who secured favorable action from two more members. After the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Cal ...

passed the bill, Arnett flew to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to secure

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 ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's signature giving force to the law. From 1977 to 1980 he was chairman of the Assembly's Judiciary Committee. Earlier, he had been chairman of the Assembly's Finance and Insurance Committee. Fenton lost his primary election in 1980 to

Matthew G. Martínez Matthew Gilbert "Marty" Martínez (February 14, 1929 – October 15, 2011) was a Congressional representative who was both a member of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party from California's 30th congressional district from 1982 to 199 ...

Art Torres Arthur A. Torres (born September 24, 1946) is an American former politician who served as a member of the California State Legislature. He is the vice chair of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the governing Board of the California ...

was a protégé and Republican Assemblyman Robert Hayden (of Santa Clara's 22nd district) was a friend.

References

External links

Join California Jack R. Fenton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenton, Jack R. Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly 1916 births 2007 deaths Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Texas People from Montebello, California Jewish American state legislators in California Politicians from Rochester, New York Loyola Law School alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni United States Army personnel of World War II State University of New York at Brockport alumni 20th-century American legislators Lawyers from Rochester, New York 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 20th-century California politicians