Former congressman Anthony Beilenson was remembered on March 7 for his decades of service in state and national politics, including his sponsorship of the 1978 law that created the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
“A giant has left us,” former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky tweeted upon getting word of Beilenson’s death. “Tony Beilenson was a classy political figure. His legacy is all around us.”
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer also took to Twitter to remember Beilenson, calling him “one of my political heroes” and saying he “deeply admired his vision, intelligence & integrity.”
Beilenson died March 5 in Westwood. He was 84 and had suffered a heart attack last month, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Beilenson grew up in New York and attended Harvard University before moving to California in the late 1950s. He was first elected to the state Assembly in 1962 representing Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles, and served in Congress from 1976 to 1996, representing parts of the San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills.
His 1978 legislation created a wilderness protection area that stretches from the Hollywood Hills to Point Mugu. He also helped secure funding for Lake Balboa Park and the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Refuge.
“If you look from the Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains and you see green as opposed to buildings, think of Anthony Beilenson, the father of the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
Beilenson was a Democrat who championed abortion rights and the environment, but he was not always easy to categorize. He voted against creating the federal Department of Education, preferring to leave education to the states, and opposed making Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday, saying he didn’t think federal workers needed another day off, The Times reported.
“He was a gentleman and the kind of person who could get along with anybody,” Yaroslavsky told City News Service. “In an era in which political divisions are so calcified, this was a man who could cross the aisle in a heartbeat and … come to some kind of consensus.”
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, who succeeded Beilenson in the House, said he “will be remembered for his ability to debate tough issues of the greatest Californians “and people from across the country owe Tony a great deal – and they can literally see it every time they drive up the PCH,” Sherman said.
