Jerome Bob Traxler (July 21, 1931 – October 30, 2019), also known as J. Bob Traxler or Bob Traxler, was an American lawyer and politician from

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. He served ten terms in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

from 1974 to 1993.

Early life and career

Traxler was born in

Kawkawlin, Michigan Monitor Charter Township is a charter township of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, organized in 1869. The township's population was 10,735 as of the 2010 census and is included in the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area. Communities ...

, and attended the public schools in Bay City, including T.L. Handy High School. He received a B.A. from

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. ...

(now Michigan State University) in 1953 and an LL.B. from

Detroit College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was the fi ...

in 1959. He was admitted to the Michigan

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in 1960 and commenced practice in Bay City. While a student at Michigan State, he became a member of the

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and co ...

fraternity. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1953 to 1955. Afterwards, he served as assistant Bay County prosecutor, 1960–1962.

Political career

He was a member of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

from 1962 to 1974. In the legislature, he was majority floor leader in the Michigan house from 1965 to 1966. He served on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees from 1993 to 2000. He also served on the Mackinac Island State Park Commission from 1992 to 2005.

Congress

Following the resignation of Republican James Harvey on January 31, 1974, Traxler ran in the subsequent special election. He was elected as a Democrat on April 16, 1974, to fill the vacancy to the 93rd United States Congress in Michigan's 8th congressional district. He was subsequently re-elected to the nine succeeding Congresses, serving from April 23, 1974, until his retirement from Congress on January 3, 1993. Due to congressional redistricting following the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

census, the area represented by Traxler mostly became the 5th district. James A. Barcia was elected to succeed Traxler for the

103rd Congress The 103rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 199 ...

in the re-drawn 5th congressional district.

Private life

Traxler was a resident of

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County, Michigan, Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township, Michi ...

. He had at least one daughter, Sarah, with Mary Richards. He married Jean B. Hose on January 1, 2006. Traxler died on October 30, 2019.

Notes

External links

The Political Graveyard
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Traxler, Jerome Bob 1931 births 2019 deaths Burials in Michigan Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Michigan State University alumni Detroit College of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Politicians from Bay City, Michigan Military personnel from Michigan Michigan lawyers 20th-century American lawyers