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

Born “Milton Jerrold Shapiro” in Cleveland, Ohio, MILTON JERROLD SHAPP changed his last name because of concerns about anti-Semitism. His fascination with ham radios led to his decision to pursue related studies and he graduated from Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1933. He worked as a sales representative for a radio parts manufacturer and eventually started his own independent sales business representing several electronic parts companies. In 1936 he moved to Pennsylvania to change his sales area from the Midwest to the Eastern seaboard and continued to add lines of electronic products to his catalog. After being discharged from the Army Signal Corps following World War II—during which he served in North Africa, Italy, and Austria, he founded Jerrold Electronics Corporation with just two employees. By the time he sold the company in 1966, it had become a successful pioneer in the cable TV industry employing several thousand people. Even before he sold the business, however, Shapp had been involved in public service as well. An early supporter of John F. Kennedy for President in 1960, he is credited with having written a memo to Robert Kennedy that set the establishment of the Peace Corps in motion. Shapp later served as an adviser to the Peace Corps as well as a consultant to the Secretary of Commerce in organizing the Area Redevelopment Administration to combat unemployment in the nation’s underdeveloped regions. Shapp was Pennsylvania’s first Jewish governor as well as being the first governor elected under the new state Constitution of 1968, which permitted two successive terms in office. As governor, Shapp instituted a program of modern management and the restoration of fiscal stability to Pennsylvania. During his administration, the most comprehensive Sunshine Law in the nation was enacted. Shapp won national attention for his consumer advocacy policies, innovative programs for the elderly and handicapped, and sweeping welfare reforms. The Pennsylvania State Lottery was established with proceeds initially targeted to provide property tax relief for the elderly. And the state Department of Aging was created. Also enacted during Shapp’s governorship were divorce law reforms, prison reforms, improvements to Pennsylvania’s portion of the Appalachian Trail, and $300 million in tax breaks to small and medium-sized businesses. Shapp dealt with one of the worst weather disasters to hit Pennsylvania—Hurricane Agnes—which caused forty-eight deaths in the state. He won national acclaim for bringing all sides together to end a national strike by independent truckers in 1974. In 1976, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Shapp was a member of the National Governors Association’s Executive Committee in 1976 and 1977.

<p>Milton Jerrold Shapp (June 25, 1912 – November 24, 1994) was the 40th Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. He was also the first governor of Pennsylvania to take advantage of an amendment to the state constitution lifting the ban on state governors succeeding themselves in office and authorizing them to serve a maximum of two consecutive terms at a time, while still requiring a minimum of four years out of office between any two stints.</p>

<p>Shapp was born Milton Jerrold Shapiro in Cleveland, Ohio, to Aaron Shapiro, a businessman and staunch Republican, and Eva (née Smelsey) Shapiro, a Democrat and outspoken suffragette. His family was Jewish, and all of his grandparents had emigrated from Eastern Europe. He attended the Case School of Applied Science. (In 1948, the Case School of Applied Science was renamed the Case Institute of Technology and in 1967 it federated with Western Reserve University to form Case Western Reserve University.) He graduated in 1933 with a degree in electrical engineering. Unfortunately, the effects of the Great Depression ravaged America, and Shapp, unable to find work in the engineering field, worked as a coal truck driver. In 1936, he took a job selling electronic parts and moved to Pennsylvania. 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.</p>

<p>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.</p>