Tom Petri, U.S. Representative

Tom Petri is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 6th congressional district from 1979 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Petri was born in Marinette, Wisconsin. When he was a toddler, his father, a Navy flyer and lieutenant during World War II, was lost during a mission over the Atlantic. Petri, his infant brother, and his widowed mother moved to Fond du Lac, where Petri's mother taught in the Fond du Lac public schools. He represented his high school as a delegate to the youth government and leadership program Badger Boys State in 1957.

He graduated from Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac. Petri then attended Harvard University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees.

He was one of the founders of the Ripon Society, a public policy organization aligned with the Republican Party.

He served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Somalia from 1966-1967.

Petri served in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1973 to 1979, followed by the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 2015. He was the Republican candidate in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race in 1974. Petri was a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem-cell research, although he generally opposes abortion. He called for a moratorium on the death penalty, but voted against other restrictions on it. Petri was a member of the moderate Republican conference, The Tuesday Group.

In 2014, Petri received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, Japan's second highest civilian honor, for his work to improve relations between the United States and Japan.

In 2015, Petri was made an honorary officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work on trans-Atlantic issues.

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