Steny Hoyer |
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Steny Hamilton Hoyer (born June 14, 1939) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Maryland's 5th congressional district since 1981. On November 16, 2006, Hoyer was elected as House Majority Leader over John Murtha of Pennsylvania. He is the first Marylander to become Majority Leader.
Hoyer was born in New York City but grew up in Mitchellville, Maryland. His mother, Jean Baldwin, was American, and his father, Steen Theilgaard Høyer, was Danish and a native of Copenhagen; "Steny" is a variant of his father's name, "Steen", and Hoyer is an anglicized form of the fairly common Danish surname "Høyer". He graduated from Suitland High School in Suitland, Maryland. In 1963, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. in 1966. In the 1960s, Hoyer interned for Senator Daniel Brewster (D-Maryland), along with current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Hoyer has three daughters: Susan, Stefany, and Anne from his marriage to his wife, Judy Pickett Hoyer, who died in 1997. Hoyer also has two granddaughters, one grandson and a great-granddaughter (born on November 2, 2006). His wife was an advocate of early childhood education, and child development learning centers in Maryland have been named in her honor ("Judy Centers"). She also suffered from epilepsy, and the Epilepsy Foundation of America sponsors an annual public lecture in her name. Hoyer, too, has been an advocate for research in this area, and the Epilepsy Foundation presented him in 2002 with their Congressional Leadership Award.