Shapp, Milton J. (Milton Jerrold), 1912-1994

Milton Jerrold Shapp (June 25, 1912 – November 24, 1994) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 40th Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979. He was the state's first Jewish governor.

Born Milton Jerrold Shapiro in Cleveland, Ohio, he earned a degree in engineering from the Case School of Applied Science. Shapp worked as a coal truck driver before moving to Pennsylvania to sell electronic parts. It was during this time that he changed his name from Shapiro to Shapp to avoid prejudice, even though he continued to identify openly as being Jewish. During World War II, Shapp served as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in North Africa and Europe. After World War II, he moved to Philadelphia and founded Jerrold Electronics Corporation, a pioneer in the cable television industry, using a $500 loan subsidized by the G.I. Bill. Jerrold became one of America's first providers of coaxial cable TV systems in 1948. Jerrold Electronics became a major player in the television industry, and Shapp himself amassed a multimillion-dollar fortune. Shapp sold his interest in Jerrold Electronics in 1967 to the General Instrument Company to concentrate on politics. The Jerrold name, however, continued to survive on cable TV reception equipment into the 1990s when it became obsolete when General Instrument (which acquired Jerrold in the interim) went out of business in 1997.

Shapp entered the world of politics in 1960 by campaigning for John F. Kennedy for President of the United States. Shapp is "credited with promoting the idea that eventually led to the creation of the Peace Corps." After Kennedy was elected President, Shapp served as an advisor to the Peace Corps as well as consultant to the Secretary of Commerce. After losing the 1966 gubernatrorial race to incumbent Ray Shafer, Shapp won the 1970 race to succeed him.

During Shapp's time in office, he solved a financial crisis by instituting Pennsylvania's flat, no-deductions income tax. He also signed into law the bill creating the Pennsylvania Lottery and instituted major reforms for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Governor oversaw new consumer rights legislation, welfare reform, and insurance reform including the controversial decision to enact no-fault insurance legislation in the state. In the wake of the Watergate crisis, he established a sweeping Sunshine Law for the state, the most comprehensive of any state at the time. He also faced a massive recovery effort after Hurricane Agnes caused widespread flooding in the state causing the death of 48 Pennsylvanians. After re-election in 1974, Shapp set his sights on the White House but was unsuccessful in his bid for the 1976 Democratic nomination.

In his last years, Shapp suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and died from complications of it on November 24, 1994, at the age of 82. After his death, the Motorola corporation established the Milton Jerrold Shapp Memorial Scholarship Fund, an engineering scholarship, in Shapp's honor. Motorola was the successor corporation to General Instrument, the company that had acquired Shapp's firm in 1967.