Jerome Bob Traxler (July 21, 1931 – October 30, 2019), also known as J. Bob Traxler or Bob Traxler, was an American lawyer and politician from

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 ten 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 1974 to 1993.

Early life and career

Traxler was born in Kawkawlin, Michigan, and attended the public schools in Bay City, including T.L. Handy High School. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

(now Michigan State University) in 1953 and an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Detroit College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was the ...

in 1959. He was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1960 and commenced practice in Bay City. While a student at Michigan State, he became a member of the

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and col ...

fraternity. 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 ...

from 1953 to 1955. Afterwards, he served as assistant

Bay County Bay County is the name of three counties: * Bay County, Florida, United States * Bay County, Michigan, United States * Baicheng County Baicheng County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Bay County (pronounced l ...

prosecutor, 1960–1962.

Political career

He was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1962 to 1974. In the legislature, he was majority floor leader in the Michigan house from 1965 to 1966. He served on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees from 1993 to 2000. He also served on the

Mackinac Island State Park Mackinac Island State Park is a state park located on Mackinac Island in the U.S. state of Michigan. A Lake Huron island, it is near the Straits of Mackinac. The island park encompasses , which is approximately 80% of the island's total are ...

Commission from 1992 to 2005.

Congress

Following the resignation of

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 ...

James Harvey on January 31, 1974, Traxler ran in the subsequent special election. He was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

on April 16, 1974, to fill the vacancy to the

93rd United States Congress The 93rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1973, ...

Michigan's 8th congressional district Michigan's 8th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Southern Michigan and Southeast Michigan, including almost all of the state capital, Lansing. From 2003 to 2013, it consisted of all of Clinton, Ingham, and ...

. He was subsequently re-elected to the nine succeeding Congresses, serving from April 23, 1974, until his retirement from Congress on January 3, 1993. Due to congressional redistricting following the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

census, the area represented by Traxler mostly became the

5th district District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to: Europe * District 5 (Zürich) * District 5, Düsseldorf * V District, Turku * Districts of Malta#District 5, District 5, an electoral district of Malta * Districts of Malta#District 5 2, Distric ...

James A. Barcia James Allan Barcia (born February 25, 1952) is an American Democratic politician from Michigan. He has served successively in the Michigan House of Representatives, the Michigan Senate, the United States House of Representatives and then again th ...

was elected to succeed Traxler for the

103rd Congress The 103rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 19 ...

in the re-drawn 5th congressional district.

Private life

Traxler was a resident of

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

. He had at least one daughter, Sarah, with Mary Richards. He married Jean B. Hose on January 1, 2006. Traxler died on October 30, 2019.

Notes

External links

The Political Graveyard
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Traxler, Jerome Bob 1931 births 2019 deaths Burials in Michigan Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Michigan State University alumni Detroit College of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Politicians from Bay City, Michigan Military personnel from Michigan Michigan lawyers 20th-century American lawyers