Mandel, Marvin, 1920-2015

Marvin Mandel (April 19, 1920 – August 30, 2015) was an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 56th Governor of Maryland from January 7, 1969, to January 17, 1979. He was Maryland's first, and to date, only Jewish governor.

Born in Baltimore, he attended public schools, Baltimore City College, The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland at College Park, where he earned a B.A. and the University of Maryland School of Law, where he earned an LL.B. Admitted to the Maryland bar, he practiced in Baltimore. Mandel was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1952 to 1969, serving as Speaker from 1964 to 1969. Following the election of Governor Spiro Agnew as Vice President, Mandel was elected to succeed him on January 7, 1969 by the joint vote of both houses of the Maryland General Assembly as the state did not have a lieutenant governor at that time; the office was created the following year. Mandel's executive administration was notable for many reasons. The executive branch of the state government was reorganized, mass transit was expanded, new public schools were constructed, and Mandel helped to grow Maryland business, attracting hundreds of businesses that would eventually create more than a hundred thousand jobs.

Mandel was convicted in 1977 along with five co-defendants of mail fraud and racketeering. On June 4, 1977, he notified Lieutenant Governor Blair Lee III that Lee would have to serve as "Acting Governor of Maryland" until further notice. Lee continued to serve as "Acting Governor" until January 15, 1979, two days before the expiration of Mandel's second term. Mandel was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland of mail fraud and racketeering on August 21, 1977, and sentenced on October 7, 1977 to four years in prison. From May 1980 to December 3, 1981, he served his sentence in federal prison camp at Eglin Air Force Base, southwest of Valparaiso, Florida. His sentence was commuted by President Ronald Reagan to nineteen months, most of the time already served.

From 1989 until his death, Mandel practiced law in Annapolis, Maryland. He died in Compton, Maryland.