Tennessen, Robert J., 1931-.

Robert Tennessen was born August 24, 1939 in Lismore, Minnesota. After serving in the U.S. Air Force (1957-1961), he attended the University of Minnesota, graduating with a B.A. (economics, 1965) and a law degree (1968). He was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1970 as a Democratic-Farmer-Labor senator from Minneapolis district 56. Tennessen served on the Commerce (chair), Finance, Judiciary, and Rules and Administration committees, and chaired the Judiciary subcommittee on Privacy Rights of Individuals, for which work he was best known. Tennessen retired from the legislature at the end of the 1982 legislative session.

From the guide to the Robert J. Tennessen papers., 1969-1997., (Minnesota Historical Society)