William Newsom
William A. Newsom III (b. 1933) is a retired state appeals court judge, administrator of the Getty family trust, and the father of
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
A lifelong San Franciscan, Newsom has longstanding political and financial ties. His father, also named William Newsom, was a close friend of
Pat Brown, who rose from San Francisco district attorney to governor of
California. He remains friends with Pat Brown's son, Oakland mayor and former governor
Jerry Brown. Newsom's sister was once married to the brother-in-law of U.S. House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi. He is also a close friend of
Gordon Getty, son of oil tycoon
J. Paul Getty, whom he met in the late 1940s while attending St. Ignatius Catholic prep school in San Francisco.
After graduating from the
University of San Francisco, Newsom attended
Stanford Law School and was admitted to the California Bar in 1962. He worked as legal adviser to the Italian division of
Getty Oil and then as a tax attorney for the Getty family. In 1967, he married Tessa Menzies, and had two children before splitting after five years.
In 1968, he ran unsuccessfully against State Senator Milton Marks, a popular Republican.
In 1975, then-governor Jerry Brown appointed Newsom to the Superior Court bench in rural Placer County. Three years later, Brown elevated him to the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco, where he served until 1995.
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. According to Newsom, the trust earns about 2 percent a year, which translates to roughly $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 and a leading figure in local Democratic circles, Newsom admitted 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."
*
Bringing Up Baby Gavin, by Peter Byrne,
San Francisco Examiner, April 2, 2003
