Bio
Senator Ronald Lee Wyden is an American educator and politician. He has been serving as a senior U.S. Senator from Oregon under the Democrats since 1996. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1996. He is also the dean of Oregon’s congressional delegation.
Wyden was born in Wichita, Kansas on May 3, 1949. He was born to a Jewish parent that fled Nazi Germany. Yet, Wyden grew up in California. There, he attended the Palo Alto High School, where he was a basketball player.
He later enrolled at the University of California on a basketball scholarship. But, he transferred to Stanford University. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Arts at Stanford in 1971. He furthered and earned a J.D. at the University of Oregon School of Law in 1974.
After his J.D., Wyden co-founded the Oregon Gray Panthers in 1974. There, he worked as an advocate for the elderly. He also taught Gerontology at Oregon University. Three years later, he worked as a director of the Oregon Legal Services for the Elderly till 1979. He also served on the Oregon Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators.
