John V Tunney

Representative and a Senator from California; born in New York City, June 26, 1934; graduated from Yale University 1956; attended the Academy of International Law at The Hague, Netherlands, in 1957; graduated from the law school of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1959; admitted to the Virginia and New York bars in 1959 and commenced practice in New York City; joined the United States Air Force as a judge advocate and served until discharged as a captain in April 1963; taught business law at the University of California at Riverside in 1961 and 1962; admitted to practice law in California in 1963; special adviser to the President’s Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime 1963-1968; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-ninth Congress; reelected to the two succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1965, until his resignation January 2, 1971; was not a candidate for reelection, but was elected in 1970 to the United States Senate for the six-year term commencing January 3, 1971; subsequently appointed by the Governor, January 2, 1971, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of George Murphy for the term ending January 3, 1971; served from January 2, 1971, until his resignation January 1, 1977; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1976; resumed the practice of law in Los Angeles; is a resident of Beverly Hills, Calif. John Varick Tunney was born on June 26, 1934, in New York City. He grew up in Connecticut with his brothers, Jay and Gene, who is deceased, and a sister, Joan, who is also deceased. He studied anthropology at Yale, graduating in 1956. He attended the Hague Academy of International Law, worked on John F. Kennedy’s 1958 Senate campaign in Massachusetts and roomed with Edward Kennedy at the University of Virginia Law School, graduating in 1959. Mr. Tunney seemed content to view politics from afar after 1976, although he did appear at a 1980 Los Angeles fund-raiser for his old friend Edward Kennedy in Mr. Kennedy’s unsuccessful presidential bid that year. In 2003, Mr. Tunney joined two former Senate Democrats, George S. McGovern and Fred Harris, in opposing the war in Iraq. In recent years, Mr. Tunney had homes in Sun Valley, Idaho; New York City; and Los Angeles. In addition to his brother Jay, he is survived by his wife; their daughter, Tara; his sons, Mark and Edward; a daughter, Arianne, from his first marriage, to Mieke Sprengers, which ended in divorce; a stepson, Cedric Osborne; a stepdaughter, Dariane Hunt; and three grandchildren.