Paul Spyros Sarbanes (; February 3, 1933 – December 6, 2020) was an American politician and attorney from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both chambers of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1971 to 1977 and as a member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from 1977 to 2007. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in the History of Maryland until he was surpassed by Barbara Mikulski by a single day when her term ended on January 3, 2017. He was the first Greek American senator. Born in

Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, United States. Salisbury is the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region, with a population of 33,050 at the 2020 United States census ...

, Sarbanes was a graduate of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. Elected to the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

in 1966, he went on to serve two terms in the Maryland House from 1967 to 1971. In 1970, he won a seat in the United States House of Representatives, representing

Maryland's 4th congressional district Maryland's 4th congressional district wraps around the eastern edge of Washington, D.C., taking in most of Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County and a small portion of Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County. It is home ...

and later

Maryland's 3rd congressional district Maryland's 3rd congressional district covers all of Howard County, Maryland, Howard county as well as parts of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Anne Arundel and Carroll County, Maryland, Carroll counties. The seat is currently represented by Sarah ...

from 1971 to 1977. In 1976, he ran for the United States Senate, defeating Republican incumbent J. Glenn Beall Jr. with 59% of the vote. Sarbanes was re-elected four times, each time receiving no less than 59% of the vote. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat

Ben Cardin Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Maryland from 2007 until 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ...

. Sarbanes was known for his low-key style, often shunning the limelight over his thirty-year Senate career. He was a coauthor of the

Sarbanes–Oxley Act The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations. The act, , also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protectio ...

, which is generally noted as his most noteworthy piece of legislation.

Early life

Sarbanes was born on

's Eastern Shore in the city of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

immigrant parents, Matina (née Tsigounis) and Spyros P. Sarbanes, who had emigrated from

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and owned a Salisbury restaurant. A graduate of Wicomico High School in

, Sarbanes attended

, where (like the younger

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

) he played basketball and earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1954 from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs after completing a senior thesis titled "The

Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3rd session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of ...

: A Denial of American Freedoms". At Princeton, Sarbanes was a member of the American Whig–Cliosophic Society. As a senior, he received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, Princeton's highest undergraduate honor. He also was awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

that brought him to

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England. He graduated with a First Class degree in 1957. Sarbanes then returned to the United States and attended

. After graduating in 1960, he clerked for Federal Judge Morris Ames Soper before entering private practice with two

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

law firms.

Political career

State legislature

In 1966, Sarbanes ran for the

and won. During his four years as a State delegate in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

he served on both the Judiciary and the Ways and Means Committees.

U.S. House of Representatives

Sarbanes was elected to the

in 1970 from the fourth district of Maryland and was reelected in 1972 and 1974 from the third district. While in the House, Sarbanes served on the Judiciary Committee, the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, and the Select Committee on House Reorganization. As a member of the Judiciary Committee he participated in the

impeachment process against Richard Nixon The Federal impeachment in the United States, impeachment process against Richard Nixon was initiated by the United States House of Representatives on October 30, 1973, during the course of the Watergate scandal, when multiple resolutions ca ...

. On July 26, 1974, he introduced the first articles of

impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...

against President Nixon for

obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...

U.S. Senate

Sarbanes was elected to the

in 1976 and re-elected in 1982, 1988, 1994, and 2000. In 2002, he was the United States Senate sponsor of the

of 2002, which reformed federal securities laws in the wake of the 2002

accounting scandals Accounting scandals are business scandals that arise from intentional manipulation of financial statements with the disclosure of financial misdeeds by trusted executives of corporations or governments. Such misdeeds typically involve complex ...

. Sarbanes served on the following Senate committees: * Ranking Member, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs * Ranking Member, Special Whitewater * Senior Member,

Foreign Relations Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

* Senior Member,

Budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

* Senior Member, Joint Economic By 1981, Sarbanes was noted as a frequent critic of military budgets. In spite of this, in May of that year, he voted in favor of approving a

Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...

-backed $136.5 billion military authorization bill. In December, he voted in favor of an amendment to President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

's MX missiles proposal that would divert the silo system by $334 million as well as earmark further research for other methods that would allow giant missiles to be based. While the military authorization bill was seen as supporting the administration, the December vote was viewed as a rebuff of Reagan. On March 11, 2005, Sarbanes, the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, announced at a news conference his decision not to seek re-election in 2006. Colleagues of Sarbanes said that the reason for his retirement from the Senate was due to his annoyance with not having any leadership roles on committees. Sarbanes received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award in 2007 from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the values, languages, and cultures of the ancient world in service to the modern world.

Personal life and death

In June 1960, Sarbanes married Christine Dunbar of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England; they had three children ( John Sarbanes, Michael Anthony Sarbanes, and Janet Matina Sarbanes) and seven grandchildren. Christine Sarbanes died of cancer on March 22, 2009. Sarbanes held the highest lay office in the

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

, "Order of St. Andrew, Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate" and was a member of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Baltimore. His son, John Sarbanes, won the general election for

in 2006, the district that Paul Sarbanes represented prior to his election as senator. Paul Sarbanes died at his home in Baltimore on December 6, 2020, at the age of 87. In April 2021, Wicomico Public Libraries announced that the library in downtown Salisbury would be renamed after Sarbanes.

Election history

* Sources:

Publications

"The premise of the U. S. Constitutional system", Perspectives on culture and society, vol. 1 (1988), 119–126

Notes

References

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarbanes, Paul 1933 births 2020 deaths Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates American Rhodes Scholars American people of Greek descent Eastern Orthodox Christians from Maryland Greek Orthodox Christians from the United States Princeton University alumni Princeton Tigers men's basketball players Harvard Law School alumni People from Salisbury, Maryland Politicians from Baltimore Democratic Party United States senators from Maryland Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Lawyers from Baltimore Whitewater controversy American men's basketball players 20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century United States senators 20th-century United States senators 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives