William Alfred Newsom III (born February 15, 1934) is a retired state appeals court judge, administrator of the Getty family trust, and the father of former San Francisco Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom

Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...

.

A lifelong San Franciscan, Newsom has longstanding political and financial ties. His father, also named William Newsom, was a close friend of Pat Brown

Pat Brown

Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...

, who rose from San Francisco district attorney to governor of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. He remains friends with Pat Brown’s son, California Attorney General, former Oakland Mayor and current California Governor Jerry Brown

Jerry Brown

Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...

. Newsom's late sister Barbara was once married to Ron Pelosi

Ron Pelosi

Ronald Pelosi is an American businessman and public figure in San Francisco, California. He is the brother-in-law of House Minority Leader and former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and is the uncle of California Lt...

, brother-in-law of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...

. He is also a close friend of Gordon Getty

Gordon Getty

Gordon Peter Getty was born on December 20, 1934. He is the fourth child of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. His mother, Ann Rork, was his father's third wife. When his father died in 1976, Gordon assumed control of Getty's US$2 billion trust...

, son of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty

J. Paul Getty

Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, whilst the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1,200 million. At his death, he was...

, whom he met in the late 1940s while attending St. Ignatius Catholic prep school in San Francisco.

Judicial career

Newsom went to University of San Francisco

University of San Francisco

The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...

, followed by Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...

 and was admitted to the California Bar in 1962. He worked as legal adviser to the Italian division of Getty Oil

Getty Oil

Getty Oil is an oil company founded by J. Paul Getty. It was at its height during the 1960s. In 1971, the Getty Realty division was formed to manage the real estate needs of Getty stations. The division was later spun off, but now owns the rights to the Getty brand...

 and then as a tax attorney for the Getty family. In 1967, he married Tessa Menzies, and had two children before divorcing after five years.

In 1968, he ran unsuccessfully against State Senator Milton Marks, a popular Republican.

In 1975, Jerry Brown appointed Newsom to the Superior Court bench in Auburn, CA Placer County and later to the state Court of Appeals in San Francisco, where he served until 1995.

Investment management

Newsom currently serves as a financial advisor for the Getty family businesses. He directly manages the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust, which is estimated at more than $2 billion. The trust earns about 2 percent a year resulting in approximately $40 million in annual income. He screens potential investments and makes recommendations on real estate, stocks, bonds, and other ventures. "I make my living working for Gordon Getty," Newsom said in 2003.

A lifelong friend of state Senate leader John Burton

John L. Burton

John Lowell Burton is the current Chairman of the California Democratic Party. He is an American politician who served as a Democratic California State Senator from 1996 until 2004, representing the 3rd district. From 1998 until he was forced out of office by term limits in 2004, he served as the...

 and a leading figure in local Democratic circles, Newsom acknowledged to the San Francisco Examiner that his son’s appointment by Willie Brown to the Board of Supervisors in 1997 "was based on Burton's friendship with me." Newsom currently lives in Dutch Flat, CA.