Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.

Anthony Joseph "Tony" Celebrezze junior (born September 8, 1941 in Cleveland , Ohio , † July 4, 2003 in De Graff , Ohio) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ). He was Secretary of State of Ohio from 1979 to 1983 and Attorney General of Ohio from 1983 to 1991 .

Early years

Anthony Joseph Celebrezze Jr., son of Anne M. and Anthony J. Celebrezze , was born in Cuyahoga County in 1941. His childhood was overshadowed by the Second World War . He was the oldest of three children. His siblings were Jean Ann (Celebrezze) Porto and Susan Marie (Celebrezze) Sullivan. Anthony Joseph Celebrezze Junior graduated from John Marshall High School in Cleveland. In 1963 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy . He served in the US Navy for five years . During this time he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal . In 1974 he received a Juris Doctor from Cleveland State University .

Political career

Celebrezze was first elected to the Ohio Senate in 1974. He sat there until 1978. During his tenure in the Ohio General Assembly , he was known for his honesty and fairness. In 1978 he defeated the Republican incumbent Ted W. Brown in the election for the office of Secretary of State . He held the post from 1979 to 1983.

In 1982 he ran for the office of Attorney General against Republican Charles R. Saxbe, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives . Both were sons of former presidential cabinet members who were well known. Celebrezze beat Saxbe in the election by an almost two-to-one lead (2,036,243 to 1,203,797 votes). When he was re-elected in 1986, he defeated Barry Levey with 1,821,587 to 1,222,102 votes. While serving as Attorney General, Celebrezze was litigating the United States Department of Energy over the nuclear and chemical contamination of the Fernald nuclear weapons facility, which for years ran in secret under the guise of the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center . The legal victory gave the Ohio government the right to regulate the cleaning of the facility.

Celebrezze ran for the office of governor of Ohio in 1990 to replace Dick Celeste , who could not run for a third consecutive term because of the term limit . As a candidate for the post of lieutenant governor , Celebrezze selected Senator Eugene Branstool, who was a farmer from Utica, Ohio. The two easily won the Democratic primary over Michael Hugh Lord and Judy Wynn Parker with 683,932 to 131,564 votes. In the gubernatorial elections, Celebrezze faced Republican George Voinovich , the mayor of Cleveland. Its running mate was Mike DeWine , a congressman from Cedarville, Ohio. Celebrezze lost the election by 1,938,103 to 1,539,416 votes. Some analysts attributed his defeat in part to his much-criticized move from his long-held anti-abortion views to an abortion advocate position. Furthermore, the combination of Voinovich and DeWine was better geographically balanced. While Voinovich took the votes from Celebrezze's natural base in northeast Ohio, DeWine gathered votes from the urban areas in the southeast and the greater Dayton and Cincinnati areas.

Late years

Celebrezze was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in 1998. In April 2001 he joined Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter , a law firm in Columbus, Ohio. He died of a heart attack in 2003 after finishing third in a Dwarf Car car race at the Shadybowl Speedway in De Graff, Ohio.

family

Celebrezze was married to Louisa Godwin. The couple had five children together: Anthony J. III, Catherine, Charles, David and Maria. His cousins ​​Frank Celebrezze junior (1928-2010) and James Celebrezze (* 1938) were both judges at the Ohio Supreme Court , and his cousin Frank D. Celebrezze III. was a judge on the Ohio Court of Appeals. His uncle was the judge Frank D. Celebrezze senior (1899-1953).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} The Library of Congress - Anthony J. Celebrezze junior - page H6590
2. ^ Ohio Secretary of State Election Results, General Election, Nov. 2, 1982
3. ^ Ohio Secretary of State Election Results, General Election, Nov. 4, 1986
4. ^ Ohio Secretary of State Election Results, Democratic Primary, May 8, 1990
5. ^ Ohio Secretary of State Election Results, General Election, Nov. 6, 1990
6. ^ Ohio Veteran's Hall of Fame, Class of 1998 ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Ohio Department of Veterans Services  
7. ↑ Celebrezze joining Kegler Brown , Business First of Columbus, April 10, 2001