Dick Thornburgh | |
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76th United States Attorney General | |
In office August 15, 1988 – August 15, 1991 |
|
President |
Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
Preceded by | Edwin Meese |
Succeeded by | William P. Barr |
41st Governor of Pennsylvania | |
In office January 16, 1979 – January 20, 1987 |
|
Lieutenant | William Scranton, III |
Preceded by | Milton Shapp |
Succeeded by | Bob Casey |
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division | |
In office 1975–1977 |
|
President | Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Henry E. Petersen |
Succeeded by | Benjamin Civiletti |
United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania | |
In office 1969–1975 |
|
President |
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Gustave Diamond |
Succeeded by | Blair Griffith |
Delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention for the 43rd district |
|
In office December 1, 1967 – February 29, 1968 |
|
Preceded by | Convention called |
Succeeded by | Convention adjourned |
Personal details | |
Born |
Richard Lewis Thornburgh July 16, 1932 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Ginny Judson Thornburgh |
Alma mater |
Yale University University of Pittsburgh |
Religion | Episcopalian |
Richard Lewis "Dick" Thornburgh (born July 16, 1932) is an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as the 41st Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the U.S. Attorney General from 1988 to 1991. Previous to being appointed U.S. Attorney and Governor, he worked in the office of the Pennsylvania U.S. attorney general for the Criminal Division and the Western District.
Thornburgh was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1932, the son of Alice (Sanborn) and Charles Garland Thornburgh, an engineer. Thornburgh attended Mercersburg Academy then Yale College from which he obtained an engineering degree in 1954. Subsequently, he received a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1957, where he served as an editor of the Law Review. He subsequently has been awarded honorary degrees from 32 other colleges and universities. He joined the international law firm K&L Gates in 1959.
Thornburgh married Ginny Hooton, and they had three sons together (John, David and Peter). Ginny Hooton was killed in an automobile accident in 1960 which left Peter, the youngest of their three sons, with physical and intellectual disability. In 1963 Thornburgh was remarried to Ginny Judson, with whom they had another son, Bill, in 1966. Ginny (Judson) Thornburgh was a former schoolteacher from New York, who holds degrees from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A lifelong advocate of people with disabilities, she served as Director of the Interfaith Initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities, based in Washington, D.C., and has co-authored and edited "That All May Worship," an award winning handbook for religious congregations working to include people with all types of disabilities. She received the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in April 2005.