Jerry Brown

On June 18, 2005, he married Anne Gust, former chief administrative officer of ‘The Gap’ and his long time girlfriend since 1990. The couple live in a house in Oakland Hills.

Brown underwent a nose surgery to remove a basal-cell carcinoma in April 2011.

The media reported in December 2012 that Brown was going through a treatment for an early stage of prostate cancer.

He was born on April 7, 1938, in San Francisco, California, to Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown Sr., and Bernice Layne Brown as their only son among four children. At that time his father was an attorney who later became District Attorney of San Francisco and thereafter the 32nd Governor of California.

His family originally hailed from Germany and settled in California, US, in 1852 when his great-grandfather immigrated to California during the Gold Rush.

He attended ‘St. Ignatius High School’ and completed graduation in 1955. There he remained a member of California Cadet Corps.

Then he joined ‘Santa Clara University’ but left it after a year to join a Jesuit novice house, ‘Sacred Heart Novitiate’ with the objective of becoming a Catholic priest, however he left it after three years.

In 1960 he started studying at the ‘University of California’, Berkeley and in 1961 obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Classics from the university.

He was elected California Secretary of State in 1970 and held office from January 4, 1971 to January 6, 1975. In this four year tenure he drafted and played an instrumental role in the passing of the California Political Reform Act of 1974. He also won cases arguing against ‘Mobil’, ‘Gulf Oil’, ‘International Telephone and Telegraph’ and ‘Standard Oil of California’ in the California Supreme Court.

On January 6, 1975, he became the 34th Governor of California on a Democratic ticket succeeding Republican Governor Ronald Reagan. He renounced many of the perks and privileges entitled for Governor and chose to live in a comparatively less expensive apartment instead of the posh mansion allotted to the Governor, thus gaining repute as an unconventional politician. He focussed on fiscal restraint that led the state to achieve one of the highest budget surpluses of around $5 billion in its history.

As Governor he also concentrated on setting standards with regard to energy-efficiency; setting up of California Coastal Commission; and passing of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. He also paid heed to criminal deterrence and vetoed death penalty. He advocated for government funding of higher education, research on alternative energies and small businesses.

He ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1976 but failed.

In 1978 he was re-elected for a second term as Governor of California, a position he held till January 3, 1983. During this tenure, apart from continuing with his other agendas, he openly inducted five gay judges that included Stephen Lachs, Jerold Krieger and Rand Schrader.