Terence M. Dempsey (February 17, 1932 – September 2, 2023) was an American politician who was a member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...

who represented the old House districts 23A and 28B, which included all or portions of

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

, Cottonwood, Nicollet and

Redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

counties in the south central part of the state. A Republican, he was an attorney and partner in the New Ulm law firm of Somsen, Dempsey and Schade. Later, he served as a Minnesota district court judge. His brother Jerry Dempsey also served in the Minnesota Legislature. Dempsey was first elected to the House in 1978, unseating former New Ulm mayor and incumbent Rep. Tony Eckstein. He was re-elected to six additional terms. He served as minority leader from 1991 to 1992, and was an assistant minority leader from 1987 to 1991. He was chair of the Taxes Subcommittee for the Local Government Finance Division, and chair of the Rules and Legislative Administration Subcommittee's Select Committee on the Staten Case during the 1985-1986 Biennium. Raised in Henderson, Dempsey attended the

College of St. Thomas The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university with campuses in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Fo ...

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

, earning his bachelor's degree in Political Science. He served as a pilot in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

for three years. He graduated from the University of California's Hasting's College of the Law in 1962, earning his J.D. He worked with the Minnesota Public Defender's Office for two years, and was the New Ulm City Attorney for 10 years. He also served on the Minnesota Governor's Crime Commission for two years. In 1992, Dempsey was appointed a district court judge by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Arne Carlson Arne Helge Carlson (born September 24, 1934) is an American politician who served from 1991 to 1999 as the 37th governor of Minnesota. Carlson is considered a liberal Republican. Before his governorship, he served as the Minnesota State Audito ...

. He resigned from the Minnesota House on May 11, 1992, and served as a Fifth Judicial District judge until 2002. After leaving the bench, he continued to be active in state politics, serving on the Minnesota Board on Aging from 2002 to 2010, and on the Minnesota Combative Sports Commission from 2010. Dempsey died on September 2, 2023, at the age of 91.

References

External links

Minnesota House Session Weekly - February 1, 1991: "1991 House Leadership Series...Dempsey hopes to avoid 'arm-twisting'"

Terry Dempsey: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Terry 1932 births 2023 deaths People from New Ulm, Minnesota People from Henderson, Minnesota University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Minnesota state court judges 20th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature