Rudolph Gabriel Tenerowicz (June 14, 1890 – August 31, 1963) was an American physician and politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. He served two terms in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1939 to 1943.

Early life

Tenerowicz was born in 1890 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). His parents, John (a Polish diplomat in Hungary) and Antoinette (Gall) Tenerowicz, immigrated with their family to the United States in 1892 and settled in

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the mai ...

Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Armstrong County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,558. The county seat is Kittanning. The county was organized on March 12, 1800, from parts of Allegheny, Westmoreland and Lycomin ...

. Tenerowicz had five siblings: Sr. Mary (Tenerowicz) Bernadine C.S.S.F Felician order, Edward Tenerowicz, Stanley Tenerowicz, Anthony Tenerowicz, and Caroline (Tenerowicz) Osikowicz. He attended the

parochial schools A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The wor ...

in Adrian, SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in

Orchard Lake, Michigan Orchard Lake Village is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,375 at the 2010 census. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Orchard Lake Village is located about southwest of the city of Pontiac and northw ...

; St. Bonaventure's College (Now St. Bonaventure University) in Allegany, New York; and St. Ignatius College (now known as Loyola University Chicago)in

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

. He graduated in medicine from Loyola University Chicago in 1912 and practiced medicine in Chicago from 1912 to 1923. 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 ...

, Tenerowicz served from September 10, 1917 as a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

in the

Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

of 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 ...

until his discharge on December 26, 1918. He was captain in the

Medical Reserve Corps The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a network in the U.S. of community-based units initiated and established by local organizations aimed to meet the public health needs of their communities. It is sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary ...

from 1919 to 1934. He received a postgraduate course in surgery at Illinois Post Graduate School at Chicago. He moved to

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of ...

in 1923 and continued the practice of medicine.

Politics

Tenerowicz served as mayor of Hamtramck from 1928 to 1932. In 1931, Tenerowicz and twelve others, including two named Jacob Kaplan and Isaac Levey, were indicted for bribery. He was tried and convicted on vice conspiracy charges and freed from prison when pardoned by Democratic

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 ...

William A. Comstock. Despite the conviction, Tenerowicz returned to serve as mayor from 1936 to 1938. He was member of the Wayne County Board of Supervisors for seven years. While serving as Mayor, and in an effort to eliminate youth crime in the City of Hamtramck, Tenerowicz worked with Mrs. Jean Hoxie to implement a tennis programs to keep kids off the streets. Kids that participated in the tennis program were offered a meal at the end of the day for their efforts. The program was an overwhelming success and resulted in Michigan tennis champions at local, state and national levels, while reducing juvenile crime. According to

Richard Rothstein Richard Rothstein is an American academic and author affiliated with the Economic Policy Institute, and a senior fellow (emeritus) at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. His current research focuses on the history ...

's 2017 book, ''

The Color of Law ''The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America'' is a 2017 book by Richard Rothstein on the history of racial segregation in the United States. The book documents the history of state sponsored segregation str ...

'', Tenerowicz, "persuaded his colleagues that funding for the agency (Federal Works Agency) should be cut off unless (Clark) Foreman was fired and the Sojourner Truth units were assigned only to whites." (pg. 26) Rothstein adds, "The director of the Federal Housing Authority supported Tenerowicz, stating that the presence of African Americans in the area would threaten property values of nearby residents. Foreman was forced to resign. The Federal Works Agency then prepared a different project for African Americans on a plot that the Detroit Housing Commission recommended, in an industrial area deemed unsuitable for whites." In 1938, Tenerowicz was elected, without challenge, as a Democrat from

Michigan's 1st congressional district Michigan's 1st congressional district is a United States congressional district containing the entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan and 16 counties of Northern Michigan in the Lower Peninsula. The district is currently represented by Republican J ...

to the Seventy-sixth Congress and reelected in 1938 to the Seventy-seventh, serving from January 3, 1939 to January 3, 1943. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-nomination in 1942 and for election as a

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 ...

in 1946, 1948, 1950, 1952, and 1954.

Family

In 1937, Tenerowicz married Margaret Agnes McGuire in Bowling Green Ohio. They had one child together, John Francis Tenerowicz of Hilton Head, SC, and a blended family with Margaret's children from a previous marriage, Marjorie Kanterman Paynter of Dearborn, Michigan, and William G. Tenerowicz, of Great Falls Virginia, and 12 grandchildren.

Retirement and death

Rudolph Gabriel Tenerowicz resumed practice in Hamtramck, Michigan. Rudolph died at the age of 73, on August 31, 1963, at St. Francis Hospital in Hamtramck, Michigan. A Requiem Mass was held at St. Florian Catholic Church, a Rosary was held at the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, and Rudolph was laid to rest in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. Margaret, his wife, died at the age of 88 in Howell, Michigan, and was laid to rest with her husband Rudolph in Arlington National Cemetery. File:Doc & Roosevelt.jpg, Rudolph Gabriel Tenerowicz with President Roosevelt in Hamtramck, Michigan File:rudyike.jpg, Rudolph Gabriel Tenerowicz with President Eisenhower

References

The Political Graveyard

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tenerowicz, Rudolph G. 1890 births 1963 deaths Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States St. Bonaventure University alumni Loyola University Chicago alumni Mayors of places in Michigan American Roman Catholics Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Burials at Arlington National Cemetery United States Army Medical Corps officers United States Army personnel of World War I American politicians of Polish descent Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons Michigan Republicans Michigan politicians convicted of crimes 20th-century American politicians