A Renaissance Gentleman - Governor Jerry Brown

When I first read about Governor Jerry Brown's bio sketch I was reminded of similar data in my schoolilng days that I had come to cherish. For instance Jerry was educated by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius School, just as I planned back after my high school at the Ateneo, to join the Jesuit seminary. I did not make the screening phase, but Jerry did and became a seminarian intending to become a Catholic priest in the Society of Jesus, but later changed his career and left his quest for the priesthood. He then went to UCLA to pursue an A.B. degree majoring in the Classics. This was kind a like the humanities course I pursued at the Ateneo where I graduated with an A.B. degree majoring in Journalism in 1953.

According to his official bio sketch online, it was during Brown’s tenure as Governor when, California significantly reduced taxes and built up the largest state surplus ever.

Many legislators considered Brown's eight years in office as generally among the most innovative in California history. Another noteworthy step was when Brown appointed more women, Asians, Latinos and African-Americans to high government positions than any other chief executive.

An avant garde ex-Jesuit, Brown was among the first in the U.S. to legalize the practice of Acupuncture and strongly supported the rights of chiropractors, osteopaths and lay midwives. He mandated every high school district to establish clear graduation standards and successfully fought for increased math and science requirements for both the California State University and University of California systems.

Brown led delegations to China and the Soviet Union, and studied Spanish in Mexico. He then invested six months studying Japanese culture and Buddhist practice, in Japan.

A signal feature of this ex-Jesuit seminarian was the time he devoted to working with the charismatic and world beloved Mother Teresa of Calcutta in what was known as the Home for the Dying then Brown traveled to Bangladesh as a CARE ambassador of good will during the devastating floods of 1988.

As a special feather in Jerry's cap to boost Oakland's crying need for a good school for blacks, Brown personally founded the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military Institute. This was another first not only in California but in the entire 50 state.

Both schools served mostly black students from the 6th grade through the 12th and are still regarded among the best performing schools in Oakland. Many graduates are now studying in such outstanding universities as Yale, Vassar, Stanford, West Point, UCLA and UC Berkeley.

On June 18, 2005, Brown married Anne Gust in a ceremony officiated by Senator Dianne Feinstein. Later the same day, they had a Catholic ceremony at St. Agnes, the San Francisco church where Jerry was baptized and his parents were married. The marriage is the first for both.