Nicholas Christos Petris, a Greek American Democrat from Oakland, died March 20 at the Oakland retirement facility where he had lived in recent years, because of old age, his former chief of staff, Felice Zensius, said. He was 90 years old.
Petris was born in Oakland on Feb. 25, 1923, the son of Chris and Mary Petris, who were both Greek immigrants. He spoke mainly Greek until he started school at McClymonds High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and a law degree from Stanford University.
He served with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and then worked as a lawyer before he was elected to the Assembly in 1959 and to the state Senate in 1967, as the newspaper Los Angeles Times reported.
Petris eloquently championed liberal causes as an East Bay representative in the Legislature for 37 years, in particular as a California state senator and assemblyman. He offered legislation on behalf of the poor, the mentally ill, elderly, frameworkers ant the environment.
“Nick Petris was a hero to me as an elected official and as a Greek American man who set the highest standards,” said former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos who served with Petris in the Legislature. He added: “He had a passion to fight for the needs of the poor, the sick and disabled, as well as the intellect to anticipate the future.”
The Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, passed in 1967, barred the involuntary commitment to psychiatric hospitals of most people with mental health problems. Petris also wrote laws banning smoking on airplanes, trains and buses, and it was his legislation that required redevelopment agencies to build housing for low-income families. As an assemblyman, he was also the co-author of legislation that was credited with saving San Francisco Bay from over-development, according to the L.A. Times.
His eloquence from the floor of the state Senate was legendary. “He was really a giant of the Legislature, a fantastic orator in the Greek tradition who people would just stop and listen to”, said former state Sen. John Burton, now the chairman of the California Democratic Party. “He never compromised his principles and was true in what he believed — a real intellectual liberal.”
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