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Jay Rockefeller

Jay Rockefeller
Jay Rockefeller official photo.jpg
United States Senator
from West Virginia
In office
January 15, 1985 – January 3, 2015
Preceded by Jennings Randolph
Succeeded by Shelley Moore Capito
Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee
In office
January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2015
Preceded by Daniel Inouye
Succeeded by John Thune
Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
In office
January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by Pat Roberts
Succeeded by Dianne Feinstein
Chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
In office
June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by Arlen Specter
Succeeded by Arlen Specter
In office
January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Preceded by Arlen Specter
Succeeded by Arlen Specter
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by Alan Cranston
Succeeded by Alan K. Simpson
29th Governor of West Virginia
In office
January 17, 1977 – January 14, 1985
Preceded by Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Succeeded by Arch A. Moore, Jr.
22nd Secretary of State of West Virginia
In office
January 13, 1969 – January 15, 1973
Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Preceded by Robert D. Bailey, Jr.
Succeeded by Edgar Heiskell
Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1966–1968
Personal details
Born John Davison Rockefeller IV
(1937-06-18) June 18, 1937 (age 79)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party Democratic (1966–present)
Other political
affiliations
Republican (Before 1966)
Spouse(s) Sharon Percy (1967–present)
Children John V, Valerie, Charles, and Justin
Alma mater Harvard University
International Christian University
Yale University
Religion Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Signature

John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) served as a United States Senator from West Virginia from 1985 to 2015. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia, a position he held from 1977 to 1985. Rockefeller moved to Emmons, West Virginia to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964, and was first elected to public office in the state, as a member of the House of Delegates, in 1966. Rockefeller was later elected West Virginia Secretary of State in 1968 and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1973 to 1975. He became the state's senior senator when the long serving Sen. Robert Byrd died in June 2010.

As a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, he was the only serving politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family at the time and the only one to have held office as a Democrat in what has been a traditionally Republican dynasty. Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014.

John Davison Rockefeller IV was born at New York Hospital in New York City to John Davison Rockefeller III (1906—1978) and Blanchette Ferry Hooker (1909—1992), 26 days after the death of his patrilineal great-grandfather, John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (1839—1937). Jay graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955. After his junior year at Harvard College, he spent three years studying Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo. He graduated from Harvard in 1961 with an A.B. in Far Eastern Languages and History. He attended Yale University and did graduate work in Oriental studies and studied the Chinese language, but never finished the program.


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