Anthony Brooks Firestone (born June 18, 1939) is an American businessman and politician. The son of

Leonard Firestone Leonard Kimball Firestone (June 10, 1907 December 24, 1996) was an American businessman, diplomat, and philanthropist. Early life and education He was born on June 10, 1907, in Akron, Ohio, to Harvey S. Firestone and Idabelle Smith Firestone. ...

, a grandson of

Harvey Samuel Firestone Harvey Samuel Firestone Sr. (December 20, 1868 February 7, 1938) was an American businessman, and the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires. Family background Firestone was born ...

and Idabelle Smith, and a nephew of Harvey Firestone Jr., he was educated at The Webb School, and graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

with an A.B in economics in 1961. He worked for Firestone until 1972, when he quit the company, and moved his family to the

Santa Ynez Valley The Santa Ynez Valley ( Spanish: ''Valle de Santa Ynez'') is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley f ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He represented the 35th District in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

for two terms (1994–1998). In 1998, he ran for 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 ...

to succeed the late

Walter Capps Walter Holden Capps (May 5, 1934 – October 28, 1997) was an American academic and politician. He served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California's 22nd congressional district from January ...

, but lost the Republican nomination to Tom Bordonaro, who went on to lose the general election to

Lois Capps Lois Ragnhild Capps (née Grimsrud; January 10, 1938) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1998 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 22nd District from 1998 to 200 ...

, the widow of the prior incumbent. Firestone operated the San Antonio Ranch,

Firestone Vineyard Firestone Vineyard is a family-owned estate winery on the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, founded in 1972 as Santa Barbara County's first estate winery. Firestone Vineyard is one of the wineries along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trai ...

, Prosperity Wines, and other businesses. His son, Adam, and his son-in-law, David Walker, both together co-run

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Firestone Walker Brewing Company is a craft brewery with operations in Paso Robles, California, Paso Robles, Buellton, California, Buellton and Venice, Los Angeles, Venice, California. The brewery was established in 1996 by brothers-in-law Adam ...

; his other son,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, appeared on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's show '' The Bachelor''. In the 2004 election for the District 3 seat on the

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, officially the County of Santa Barbara (), is a county located in Southern California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa M ...

Board of Supervisors, Firestone defeated John Buttny, Slick Gardner and Steve Pappas. As a supervisor, Firestone was criticized for his plan to get rid of the county's Oak Tree Protection ordinance, a historic 1998 compromise between agriculture and environmental interests. He served only one term on the Board, suffering health problems in 2008, the last year of his term. In his personal life, Firestone has written and published three books, including the Valley Animals Series: ''Valley Animals'' (2010) and ''More Valley Animals'' (2020), and the semi-autobiographical ''Evensong''. In 2020 these titles were published and re-distributed by Polyverse Publications.

References

External links

Third District officeFirestone WineJoin California - Brooks FirestoneAnimals of the Valley - Santa Barbara News Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firestone, Brooks 1939 births American businesspeople American people of Austrian descent Firestone family Living people Republican Party members of the California State Assembly American wine merchants County supervisors in California Columbia College (New York) alumni 20th-century members of the California State Legislature