Candidate for
United States Representative; District 7

I was born on New Year's Day, 1942 at Fort Bliss, Texas (El Paso), the son of a Regular Army officer. I grew up at various Army posts throughout the southern United States and completed twelve years of education at the age of 17 while living in Portugal.

In 1959, at the age of 17, I enlisted in the U. S. Army. Two years later, I was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. I graduated in 1965 and was appointed a Second Lieutenant of the Corps of Engineers. I subsequently attended the University of California at Berkeley for two years and obtained the degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering.

I served in the Army for another five years, including commanding a company of combat engineers in a battalion deployment to the Republic of Viet-Nam, two separate one-year tours in Viet-Nam, and a year at Rock Island District of the Corps of Engineers where I designed parts of several fixed bridges and inspected bridges and dams.

In 1972, I decided to leave the Army and pursue a civilian career in structural engineering. This was not to be the end of my military career, however, as in 1975 I accepted a commission as a Reserve officer. I subsequently commanded companies in the Louisiana National Guard, served on a battalion staff in the Minnesota National Guard, and after other staff duty, was transferred to the retired list as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1995.

In civil life I have pursued the practice of civil and structural engineering with various employers, a period of five years as a self-employed engineer, and, for the last sixteen years, with TranSystems Corporation and its predecessor, Vickerman-Zachary-Miller in Oakland.

I am a member of the Structural Engineers' Association of Northern California and a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers.

I reside in Pittsburg with my wife of 33 years, Deborah, and where our only child, our son Camden, was raised. We have been here since 1983.