Jerry M. Patterson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jerry Mumford Patterson (born October 25, 1934) is a California politician, who was a U.S. Representative from California.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Patterson graduated from Tucson High School in Tucson, Arizona in 1952. He served in the United States Coast Guard from 1953 to 1957. Patterson received his B.A. from Long Beach State in 1960. He started graduate work at the University of Southern California in 1960 but dropped out to go to UCLA School of Law. He was given his law degree by that school in 1966.
He was admitted to the California bar in 1967 and commenced practice in Santa Ana. He was a Santa Ana city councilman from 1969 to 1973. He was concurrently the Mayor of Santa Ana and the City Attorney of Placentia from 1973 to 1975.
Patterson was a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 1985 when he vacated his office after losing his reelection bid to Bob Dornan. He served as chairman of the Select Committee on Committees (Ninety-sixth Congress).
He resumed the practice of law in Costa Mesa in 1986. He was a visiting professor at Long Beach State from 1986 to 1999. He became the City Attorney of Cypress in 1987. He returned to elected office when he won a seat on the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees in 1996, 10 years after he was defeated for Congress by Dornan.
Patterson lives in Fountain Valley, with his wife, Linda Moulton-Patterson, who was a Huntington Beach City Councilwoman from 1990 until her defeat for reelection in 1994.
