{{short description|American politician and judge}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Berkeley Lent | image = Berkeley Lent.jpg | image_size = | caption = | office = 38th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court | term_start = 1982 | term_end = 1983 | nominator = | appointer = | predecessor = Arno H. Denecke | successor = Edwin J. Peterson | office2 = 78th Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court | term_start2 = 1977 | term_end2 = 1988 | nominator2 = | appointer2 = | predecessor2 = Kenneth J. O'Connell | successor2 = George Van Hoomissen | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|9|22|mf=y}} | birth_place = Los Angeles, California | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|11|11|1921|9|22}} | death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada | spouse = Joan Lent }} '''Berkeley "Bud" Lent''' (September 22, 1921 – November 11, 2007) was an American politician and jurist in the state of Oregon. He was the 38th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1982 to 1983. Elected to the court in 1976, Lent remained until 1988. Previously, the native Oregonian also was elected to both branches of the Oregon legislature, including time as the Senate Majority Leader, and was a county circuit court judge. Lent also served as a mediator and senior judge in Oregon.<ref>[https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/state/judicial/senior-judges.aspx Oregon Blue Book: Senior Judges]</ref>

==Early life== On September 22, 1921, Lent was born in Los Angeles, CA.<ref name=WLR>{{cite journal|last=Peterson|first=Edwin|author-link=Edwin J. Peterson|year=1989|title=Bud Lent and Doc Campbell: Two Esteemed Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court|journal=Willamette Law Review|volume=25|pages=243}}</ref> Raised in the Lents neighborhood of southeast Portland, Berkeley earned his primary education there, graduating from Franklin High School.<ref name=obit>Green, Ashbel S. Berkeley Lent: lawyer, legislator, judge. ''The Oregonian'', November 14, 2007.</ref> After high school he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he attended Occidental College from 1944 to 1945.<ref name=WLR/> Also in 1944, he married Dorothy Welch.<ref name=obit/> Lent joined the United States Navy that year. Lent then returned to Portland where he attended Reed College, graduating in 1948.<ref name=WLR/>

He then went on to law school at Willamette University College of Law where he graduated with his Juris Doctor in 1950 and was president of his class his final year.<ref name=WLR/> After law school Lent moved to San Francisco, California, and worked for Bancroft-Whitney Law Publishing Company as an editor.<ref name=WLR/> He then returned to Portland and worked for the Bonneville Power Administration as a staff attorney.<ref name=WLR/> After practicing law in Coos Bay, Oregon, Lent returned again to Portland and began working at the law firm of Peterson & Pozzi beginning in 1953.<ref name=WLR/>

==Political career== Berkeley Lent began his political life in the state house as a Democrat from Portland, serving at the 1957 session.<ref name=WLR/> He remained in the House through 1965, and that year serving as the Minority Whip.<ref name=WLR/><ref name="SOS1">{{cite web | title = Oregon Legislative Assembly (52nd) | work = Oregon State Archives | publisher = Oregon Secretary of State | url = http://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/Recordpdf/6785332 | accessdate = 2007-02-05}}</ref> He then served in the state senate from 1967 to 1971.<ref name="SOS2">{{cite web | title = Oregon Legislative Assembly (54th) | work = Oregon State Archives | publisher = Oregon Secretary of State | url = http://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/Recordpdf/6785334 | accessdate = 2007-02-05 }}</ref> During the 1971 legislative session Lent was selected as the Senate Majority Leader<ref name=WLR/> after losing the Senate Presidency when a rural conservative Democrat, himself a former Senate President,<ref>''Register-Guard'', November 25, 2003.</ref> joined Republicans to deny Lent the Senate Presidency.<ref>Oregon Appellate Almanac, 2008</ref> The defection caused a 15–15 deadlock that lasted for 12 days and through 54 ballots before being broken.<ref>''Oregon Appellate Almanac'', 2008.</ref> Later that year Lent was appointed as a county circuit court judge in Multnomah County remaining at that post until 1977.<ref name=WLR/>

Lent was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court in November 1976 to replace the outgoing Kenneth O'Connell.<ref name="SOS">{{cite web | title = Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Oregon Supreme Court Justices | work = Oregon Blue Book | publisher = Oregon Secretary of State | url = https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Documents/elections/history-officials.pdf | accessdate = 2006-12-21 }}</ref> Justice Lent was then re-elected to another six-year term in 1982.<ref name="SOS"/> On the court his fellow justices elected him as chief justice in July 1982, serving until resigning the position in August 1983.<ref name=WLR/> Justice Lent then resigned from the bench on September 30, 1988.<ref name="SOS"/> George Van Hoomissen was elected in May of that year to replace Lent.<ref name="SOS"/>

==Later life and family== After leaving the court and political office, Lent worked in alternative dispute resolution as an arbitrator and mediator, as well as a senior judge for the state of Oregon.<ref name=obit/> He divorced his first wife Dorothy in 1961 and remarried in 1968 to Joan Burnett, with the family moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, after Lent's retirement.<ref name=obit/> He had one son, Eric, and four daughters, Terry, Deirdre, Suzanne, and Patricia.<ref name=obit/> Berkeley Lent died of a heart attack in Las Vegas on November 11, 2007.<ref name=obit/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lent, Berkeley}} Category:Members of the Oregon House of Representatives Category:Oregon state senators Category:Willamette University College of Law alumni Category:Reed College alumni Category:2007 deaths Category:1921 births Category:Lawyers from Portland, Oregon Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Chief justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Category:Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni Category:20th-century Oregon state court judges Category:20th-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court