Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. (born August 28, 1939) is an American attorney, political executive, and lobbyist who was chairman of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in f ...

from 1983 to 1989. Fahrenkopf is co-founder, and currently co-chairman, of the

Commission on Presidential Debates The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties in the United States. The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. pre ...

, which conducts the United States general election presidential and vice presidential debates. In the private sector, Fahrenkopf most recently served as the

American Gaming Association The American Gaming Association (AGA) is a United States gambling industry association. It was founded in 1994 with the goal of promoting, educating and lobbying on behalf of the gambling industry through education and advocacy. The AGA's offices ...

's first president, and retired from the position in 2013.

Early life and education

Fahrenkopf was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

, on August 28, 1939. He is a 1958 graduate of

Reno High School Reno High School (RHS) is a public secondary school in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is a part of the Washoe County School District. The school's teams are known as the Reno Huskies, and the school colors are red and blue. History Reno High w ...

. In 1962, Fahrenkopf graduated from the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

, where he was a member of

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

fraternity. In 1965 he graduated from the

Boalt Hall School of Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

Early legal work

After graduating from law school, Fahrenkopf was hired as an associate by the

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

law firm of Breen and Young. In 1967, he left that firm to become a partner in Sanford, Sanford, Fahrenkopf, and Mousel, another Reno law firm, and also taught criminal law at the University of Nevada. He remained a partner in the firm until 1975, when he founded Fahrenkopf, Mortimer, Sourwine, Mousel and Sloane. The new firm's clients included hotels, casinos, liquor vendors, and construction companies. Also in the 1970s, Fahrenkopf was retained by the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson.

Politics prior to the RNC

In 1965, just out of law school, Fahrenkopf met all the members of the Nevada Young Republicans Club; a week later, Fahrenkopf was elected chairman of the club. Within two years the club had more than 500 members. In 1972, Fahrenkopf was the Northern Nevada co-chairman of President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign. He was general counsel to the Nevada Republican Committee from 1972 to 1975 and its chairman from 1975 to 1983. At the national level, Fahrenkopf became a member of the Republican National Committee in 1975. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1972, 1976, and 1980. From 1977 to 1979 he was a member of the Republican National Committee's executive committee. From 1981 to 1983, he was the national chairman of the Republican State Chairman's Association.

RNC

In January 1983, Fahrenkopf was elected chairman of the

Betty Heitman Betty Green Heitman (November 27, 1929 – February 1, 1994) was a Republican activist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. From 1978 to 1980 she was president of the National Federation of Republican Women. During her tenure the organization achieved ...

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, served as his co-chairwoman from 1983 to 1987. In 1983, Fahrenkopf was a founder of the

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

, where he served as vice chairman and a board member from 1983 to 1993. In 1984, he founded the

International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more issu ...

, on which he continues to serve as a board member. In 1986 he co-founded the Commission on Presidential Debates with

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

chairman Paul G. Kirk. Fahrenkopf served for many years as chairman of the Pacific Democrat Union and vice chairman of the

International Democrat Union The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an international alliance of centre-right political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries. It is chaired by Stephen Harper, ...

, a worldwide association of conservative political parties from the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Australia and twenty other nations. In 1985, Fahrenkopf was again hired by the firm

Hogan & Hartson Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. It employs about 2,400 lawyers acr ...

, as a "special partner", where he was paid at least $100,000 a year. While RNC head, he also worked for two Nevada law firms, and was a director of First Republic Bank Corporation of California. Fahrenkopf was the longest-serving chairman of the RNC in the 20th century and the second-longest in the history of the Republican Party, leaving in 1989.

Post-RNC and other involvement

In 1989, Fahrenkopf became a full partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Hogan & Hartson, where he chaired the International Trade Practice Group. On June 1, 1995, he became the

's first chief executive. He is a member of the board of directors of the

. Fahrenkopf also sits on the board of directors of six New York Stock Exchange public companies: First Republic Bank, Gabelli Equity Trust, Inc., Gabelli Utility Trust, Gabelli Global Multimedia Trust, Gabelli Dividend and Income Trust, and Gabelli Gold and Natural Resources. His civic involvement includes service as chairman of the board of governors of the City Club of Washington, a member of the board of trustees of the E.L. Wiegand Foundation, The Economic Club of Washington and the

Federal City Council Federal City Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes economic development in the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Incorporated on September 13, 1954, it is one of the most powerful private groups in the city, ...

. Fahrenkopf also served as a co-chairman of the Rivlin Commission, which investigated and reported on the government of the District of Columbia. He has been honored for his contributions, receiving the Junior Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award in 1973, the Nevada Lung Association "Man of the Year" Award in 1983 and the National Humanitarian of the Year Award from the National Conference on Christians and Jews in 1985. He is a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He also serves as a trustee of the Culinary Institute of America and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). He has also been a frequent commentator on political and gaming issues on such news television programs as Crossfire, Inside Politics, Meet The Press, Hardball, Face the Nation, The Today Show, This Week and Good Morning America. In Fall of 2014, Fahrenkopf was a Fellow at the

Harvard Institute of Politics The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, as well as to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in polit ...

at the

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

Personal life

Fahrenkopf and his wife, the former Mary Bandoni, have three daughters: Allison, the Deputy Administrator of the

U.S. General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gove ...

and former Washington, D.C., attorney; Leslie, former associate White House Counsel to President George W. Bush; and Amy, a physician and President of HSS Health at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He is an avid golfer, tennis player and sports enthusiast.

References

External links

Staff Bio
at American Gaming Association website
The Council on American Politics at GW's Graduate School of Political Management
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrenkopf, Frank J. Jr. 1939 births International Republican Institute Living people American lobbyists Nevada Republicans Reno High School alumni Republican National Committee chairs State political party chairs of Nevada UC Berkeley School of Law alumni University of Nevada, Reno alumni