Marcel L. Groen (Born November 2, 1945) is an American lawyer and the former chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party from 2015 until his resignation on February 2, 2018. Before being selected as the state party chairman, Groen's political experience in Pennsylvania included as Finance Chair of the Bucks County and Montgomery County Democratic Parties as well as Chairman of Montgomery County Democratic Committee since 1994.

Early life and education

Groen was born November 2, 1945, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, the son of Rabbi Nardus and Sipora Groen, a

holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

survivor. Groen and his family came to America when he was 10 years old. Groen graduated from

Walnut Hills High School Walnut Hills High School is a public college-preparatory high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Operated by Cincinnati Public Schools, it houses grades seven through twelve. The school was established in 1895 and has occupied its current building s ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, in 1963. He received a BA from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

in 1967 and a JD from Temple University School of Law in 1970.

Career

Groen was the founding partner of Groen, Laveson, Goldberg & Rubenstone in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Montgomery County Bar Association, Bucks County Bar Association. Groen was a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP working out of the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania office.

Controversy

In 2017 and 2018, Groen came under fire for his alleged failure to respond to calls to address what female party leaders and local activists have characterized as a culture of sexual predation within the party. Critics cite Groen's silence on sexual misconduct allegations against prominent state politicians, his failure to fulfill a commitment to create a party sexual misconduct policy after the alleged sexual assault of a state party delegate at the 2016 DNC, and his anger over calls to dismiss a close aide's controversial statements about the #MeToo movement as evidence of Groen's unwillingness to address sexual misconduct within the party.

References

External links

* 1945 births Dutch emigrants to the United States Living people Pennsylvania Democratic Party chairs Temple University alumni Walnut Hills High School alumni {{Pennsylvania-politician-stub