Richard B. Chess | |
|---|---|
| Member of the PennsylvaniaHouseofRepresentatives from the 27th district | |
| In office 1979–1980 | |
| Preceded by | Robert A. Geisler |
| Succeeded by | Thomas C. Petrone |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 20,1953 Pennsylvania,U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
Richard Bruce Chess (b. December 20,1953,Pennsylvania) is an American lawyer and politician who was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1979-1980. [1] Since leaving political office,he has worked as an attorney specializing in real estate law in Richmond,Virginia. [2] He currently has his own law firm in that city.
The son of George Findley Chess and Mary Danyla,Richard "Rick" Bruce Chess was born in Pennsylvania on December 20,1953. [3] He was raised in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania and graduated from both Langley High School and the University of Pittsburgh. [4] He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Richmond School of Law in 1976. [5] [6] He served in the United States Marines,and then worked as a local government attorney in Pittsburgh. [4] In 1977 he was head of Allegheny County's Consumer Affairs office, [7] and in 1978 he was appointed head of Allegheny County's Bureau of Weights and Measures. [8]
In 1974 he was a Democratic Party candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,District 27 which he lost in the primary election to Robert Geisler. [9] [10] He lost to Geisler again in the 1976 election for the same office but won the election for that position in the November 1978 election. [11] During his two year tenure he served on the House Agriculture Committee. [2]
In 1980,at the age of 26,Chess ran against Bob Casey Sr. for the post of Treasurer of Pennsylvania; [12] a decision which angered the Democratic Party in Allegheny County and ultimately led to the party withdrawing there future support for re-election in the House of Representative. [13] In 1981 he married Diane Dolan in Richmond,Virginia. [3] At that time he was vice president of the Metropolitan Richmond Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce's Private Industry Council. [6] He had previously served as the president of the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia. [6] In 1984 he was elected vice president of the Richmond Community Action Program. [14]
In 1985 he announced his candidacy for Virginia's 71st House of Delegates district to replace Benjamin Lambert who left his post after winning a seat in the Virginia Senate. [15] He ran as an independent, [16] and lost to Jean Wooden Cunningham. [17] After this he worked as a lawyer in Richmond and as both vice president and acquisitions director for the United Dominion Realty Trust (UDRT). [18] [19] [20] In 1993 he moved to Midlothian,Virginia. [2] In 1997 he announced his candidacy for the post of director of the James River Soil and Water Conservation District; [2] an election he lost. [21] In 1998 he left his post at UDRT to become director of institutional services in the Richmond division of the law firm of Goodman Segar Hogan Hoffler. [22] In 2000 he joined the legal team of the broadband company Winstar Communications. [23] In 2008 he was president of the Richmond Association for Business Economics, [24] and in 2009 he served as president of the American Realty Capital Markets LLC. [25]