Scott Matheson | |
---|---|
Chair of the National Governors Association | |
In office August 10, 1982 – August 2, 1983 |
|
Preceded by | Richard Snelling |
Succeeded by | Jim Thompson |
12th Governor of Utah | |
In office January 3, 1977 – January 7, 1985 |
|
Lieutenant | David S. Monson |
Preceded by | Cal Rampton |
Succeeded by | Norm Bangerter |
Personal details | |
Born |
Scott Milne Matheson January 8, 1929 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | October 7, 1990 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
(aged 61)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Norma Warenski |
Children | 4 (including Scott and Jim) |
Education |
University of Utah (BA) Stanford University (LLB) |
Scott Milne Matheson Jr. (January 8, 1929 – October 7, 1990) was the 12th Governor of Utah from 1977 to 1985. He is the most recent Democrat to serve in that position.
Matheson was born on January 8, 1929, in Chicago to Latter-day Saint parents Scott Milne and Adele Adams Matheson. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Utah, settling first in Parowan, before moving to Salt Lake City, when his father became a federal prosecutor.
Matheson graduated from Salt Lake City's East High School in 1946, earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in 1950, and a law degree from Stanford University in 1952. He operated a private law practice in Iron County, Utah, for five years before taking a position with Union Pacific Railroad in 1958. At the railroad he rose to the position of general counsel before making his 1976 run for governor.
During his term as governor, Matheson was named the defendant in the U.S. Supreme Court case of H. L. v. Matheson, which upheld state law requiring parental consent for a teenage girl to obtain an abortion.
In 1951, he married Norma Louise Warenski, and the couple had four children. One is former U.S. Congressman Jim Matheson. Another son, Scott Matheson Jr., was the 2004 Democratic nominee for Governor of Utah, and was appointed as a federal judge in 2010.
On October 7, 1990, Matheson died of multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer; he was buried in Parowan City Cemetery in Parowan, Utah.