Senate 1973-82 (District 57); Senate 1983-92 (District 59); Senate 1993-2000 (District 60)
Party when first elected: Nonpartisan Election-Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus
Counties Served: Hennepin
Oberlin College, Ohio; B.A.; 1958Yale University; M.A.; 1960Yale University; Ph.D.; History, 1965Oberlin College, Ohio; LL.D.; Honorary Degree
Spouse/Partner: Single; Junjiro Tsuji (around 1987) Children: Family Members Who Have Served in the Minnesota Legislature:
Special Legislative Concerns: criminal law/justice, corrections, law reform, human rights, human services, consumer protection. He was the first openly gay member of the Minnesota Legislature (he acknowledged that he was gay while he was in office on December 9, 1974). He was the longest serving openly gay state legislator in the United States when he retired in 2000. He was one of the first openly gay state legislators in the United States.He was the first nonlawyer to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee.He was a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.He taught history at the University of Minnesota for thirty-five years (MNopedia).He died, in a hospital, of complications following heart surgery. His funeral was held on November 23, 2008 at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, Minnesota.He was a member of the Shir Tikvah Synagogue Board.Religion provided by the Jewish Community Relations Council.
The photos in this collection were scanned from the files of the Minnesota Senate Photographer with the generous help of the Minnesota Digital Library.