Frank, Barney, 1940-

Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a former American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979, in the Massachusetts Senate from 1979 to 1981, and in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Massachusetts' 4th congressional district from 1981 to 2013.

Born and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, Frank graduated from Bayonne High School and Harvard College. He taught undergraduates at Harvard while studying for a PhD in Government, but left in 1968 before completing the degree, to become Boston mayor Kevin White's Chief Assistant, a position he held for three years. He then served for a year as Administrative Assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington. In 1972, Frank was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he served for eight years. He made a name for himself in the mid-1970s as a political defender of the Combat Zone, Boston's notorious red light district. While a state representative, Frank earned a law degree from Harvard Law School. In 1979, Frank was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. While in state and local government, he taught, part-time, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and at Boston University. In 1977, Frank graduated from Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts.

...