Marvin Mandel
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2015) |
Marvin Mandel | |
---|---|
Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
In office February 1964 – January 1969 | |
Preceded by | A. Gordon Boone |
Succeeded by | Thomas Hunter Lowe |
Personal details | |
Born | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | April 19, 1920
Died | August 30, 2015 Compton, Maryland, U.S. | (aged 95)
Resting place | Lakemont Memorial Gardens, Davidsonville, Maryland, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Barbara Oberfeld (1941–1974) Jeanne Blackistone Dorsey (1974–2001) |
Education | University of Maryland, College Park (BA) University of Maryland, Baltimore (LLB) |
Signature | |
*Blair Lee III served as Acting Governor. | |
Marvin Mandel (April 19, 1920 – August 30, 2015) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th
Before he became the state's Governor, Mandel had been
Mandel was elected as Governor of Maryland on January 7, 1969, by the joint vote of both houses of the Maryland General Assembly due to the approaching vacancy created by the election of Spiro T. Agnew, the incumbent governor, as Vice President of the United States, as there was no lieutenant governor at the time to succeed to the governorship, as in most other states. Such an office was created by amendment in 1970.[6]
Early life
Mandel was born and raised in a Jewish family in
Political career
Mandel was first elected to public office in the
Governor
Mandel's executive administration was notable for many reasons. While he was governor, the executive branch of the Maryland state government was reorganized, combining the recent 20th-century growth of commissions, boards, offices, bureaus and agencies into twelve departments headed by supervising secretaries with several administrative levels in each executive department. Each secretary and their assistants and deputies reported directly to the governor and their chief-of-staff, reflecting the current American federal presidency and presidential cabinet system.
Additionally, the
A statewide
The additional executive departmental reorganization and structure simplified the state government. Although narrowly rejected by state voters in a 1968 referendum (because of several large controversial proposals), many of the proposed charter's other more generally acceptable provisions and reorganizations were later pushed past the legislature by the new Mandel administration and enacted into law and policy by the voters in several special elections/referendums and the edicts of the Mandel and later
Other similar administrative organizations and efficiencies were reflected in the various other departments as they were set up and took shape with the various "administrations", authorities" and "offices" arrayed beneath the state secretaries in the governor's new cabinet, including newer unprecedented departments such as the environment, general services, public safety and correctional services, and natural resources.
Mandel's idea to grow Maryland business and create more jobs was to attract existing overseas companies to the state. In 1972, Mandel selected Philip Kapneck, a local businessman, to start Maryland's International Business efforts by opening an office in Brussels, Belgium.[11] In 1974, Mandel appointed Kapneck as Maryland Trade Ambassador. Mandel's initiative was so successful that over the next 40 years, his Trade Ambassador attracted hundreds of businesses, creating more than a hundred thousand jobs.[12]
Legal controversy
Mandel was convicted in 1977 along with five co-defendants of mail fraud and racketeering. The charges stemmed from what prosecutors said was a complicated scheme in which Mandel was given money and favors for vetoing one bill and signing another to help his friends make money on a race track deal.[13] On June 4, 1977, he notified Lieutenant Governor Blair Lee III that Lee would have to serve as "Acting Governor of Maryland" until further notice. Lee continued to serve as "Acting Governor" until January 15, 1979, when Mandel rescinded his letter appointing Lee as "Acting Chief Executive" (just two days before the expiration of his second full term) on the basis of his overturned previous legal conviction and the neutral legal opinions on the status of his appeal case, that the governor was now eligible to re-assume the powers of his office previously delegated to Lee, even at that late date.
Mandel had already served nineteen months of his original sentence in the low-security federal prison camp at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, before having his sentence commuted by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Based on the reasoning of an opinion of the
In addition, in 1980, Mandel's administrative aide Maurice R. Wyatt,
Mandel's official gubernatorial portrait was not hung in the governor's Reception Room of the Maryland State House, the historic state capitol, with the most recent occupants of the office, until 1993, fourteen years after he left the executive chair and two administrations had intervened.[16]
Personal life
Mandel married Barbara Oberfeld (his first wife) on June 8, 1941, at age 22 and later had two children, Gary and Ellen. Mandel announced through his press office on July 3, 1973, that he was leaving his wife of 32 years to marry the woman he loved,
Mandel lived briefly in Arnold, Maryland, and lived and practiced law in Annapolis.
Mandel served as the chairman of the governor's Commission on the Structure and Efficiency of State Government, beginning in 2003. He was also a member of the Board of Regents for the University System of Maryland from 2003 through 2009.[17]
Mandel died on August 30, 2015, at the age of 95 in Compton, Maryland.[18] After lying in state at the Maryland State House, a funeral service was held in Pikesville, and he was interred at Lakemont Memorial Gardens in Davidsonville, Maryland.[19] A Fall 2017 issue of his law school's magazine reported that Mandel had since been inducted into the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore Hall of Fame.[20]
See also
References
- ^ "Marvin Mandel (1920–2015) Biographical Series; Governor of Maryland, 1969–1979 (Democrat)". Archives of Maryland, MSA SC 3520-1487. Maryland State Government. September 2, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
- ISBN 978-0942370010. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
- Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
- Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
- ^ a b "Marvin Mandel". National Governors Association. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ^ "Lieutenant Governor origin & Functions". Maryland State Archives. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ^ "MAC to Millennium: Alumni of Note". University of Maryland. Archived from the original on August 23, 2006.
- ^ "Commencement Exercises" (PDF). University of Maryland. May 30, 1942. p. 8. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
- ^ "Marvin Mandel". Maryland State Archives.
- ^ James A. Clark, Jr. Jim Clark : Soldier, Farmer, Legislator / A Memoir. p. 151.
- ^ "Phil Kapneck Gets State Job In Brussels". The Daily Times. Associated Press. August 19, 1973. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
- ^ "Trade Ambassador Kapneck Official Website". Trade Ambassador Kapneck Official Website. November 28, 2008. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ a b Witte, Brian (August 31, 2015). "From creativity to a corruption conviction, ex-Gov. Mandel was a political force in Maryland". Associated Press. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- ^ Paul C. Leibe (September 28, 2007). "30 years ago, turmoil surrounded Gov. Mandel". Southern Maryland Newspapers. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
- ^ "3 Given Probation, Fines for Bribery". The Washington Post. July 22, 1980.
- ^ Timberg, Robert (October 14, 1993). "Mandel portrait hung in State House". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
- ^ "Gov. Mandel Resigns from University System of Maryland Board of Regents". US Fed News Service, Including US State News. February 4, 2009. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
- ^ "Former Maryland Gov. Martin Mandel dies at age 95". WBAL. August 30, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ^ "Former Governor Marvin Mandel to Lie in State at Maryland State House{". WCBC. August 31, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
- ^ "Class Action" (PDF). Maryland Carey Law. Fall 2017. p. 28. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
External links
- Media related to Marvin Mandel at Wikimedia Commons
- Maryland Manual official state gubernatorial biography
- First Lady Jeanne Blackistone Dorsey Mandel
- Jeanne Mandel gravesite
- Mandel bio from archive
- Jeanne Blackistone Dorsey Mandel from archives
- Mandel Family papers at the University of Maryland libraries