Nicholas C. Petris
Nicholas Christos Petris (February 25, 1923 – March 20, 2013) was a Democratic American politician from Oakland, California. He served in the California State Assembly from 1959 to 1967 and then in the California State Senate from 1967 to 1996, representing the 11th district (1967–1976) and the 9th district (1976–1996).
Petris earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a law degree from Stanford Law School. He served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and was friends and classmates with Warren Christopher, who would later become U.S. Secretary of State.
As a lawmaker, Petris co-authored the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (1967), reforming California’s mental health system, and co-sponsored the McAteer-Petris Act, which established the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. He supported Save The Bay and led conservation efforts to protect the Bay Area, and he backed emissions controls that helped California require catalytic converters.
Petris also pursued environmental and transportation measures, including a controversial push to limit car ownership and, later, to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars from 1975 onward, though that plan did not pass. He remained a proponent of strong air quality regulations throughout his career.
He died in Oakland in 2013 at age 90. He was married to Anna Vlahos since 1951.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:10 (CET).