Thomas Louis Fries (born September 28, 1942) is Democratic politician who formerly served in the

Ohio General Assembly The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...

. From

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, Fries is a former Minor League Baseball player, and played for the Washington Senators and the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

organizations. He also worked for the

Gulf Oil Corporation Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

before entering politics. In 1970, Fries won a seat in 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 ...

and was seated on January 3, 1971. By his second term, he was serving as the top Democrat on the House Local Government Committee, and was named Chairman after the Democrats won the majority following the 1974 election cycle. In all, Fries would serve six terms, or twelve years, as a state representative. Following Charles Curran's resignation from the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

in 1982, Fries was appointed to replace him. Up for election for a full term in 1984, Fries instead opted to retire, and resigned ten months early from the end of his term. He was replaced by Tom Talbot, who would go on to lose to

Chuck Horn Charles F. Horn (known as Chuck Horn) was a Republican member of the Ohio Senate, serving the 6th district from 1985 to 2000. His district encompassed suburban Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio an ...

in the general election. Following public service, Fries started his own consulting firm in Dayton.

References

1942 births Living people Democratic Party Ohio state senators People from Crawford County, Ohio Dayton City Council members People from Fairborn, Ohio {{Ohio-OHSenate-stub