Fenty, Adrian

Source:

 African American National Biography

Fenty, Adrian

(6 Dec. 1970– ),

politician, was born Adrian Malik Fenty in Washington, D.C., the second-oldest son of Jan and Phillip Fenty. His Italian American mother and Afro-Panamanian father, both avid runners, are owners since 1984 of Fleet Feet, an athletic apparel and shoe store in the multicultural Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Fenty was raised in Mount Pleasant, a middle-class community in northwest Washington, D.C., along with his older brother Shawn and his younger brother Jess. He attended Macklin Catholic High School and graduated from Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, both in the District of Columbia. Fenty inherited his parent's appreciation for running and participated in high school track and field. Having also adopted their zeal for social and political activism, early on he aspired to a career in law. Desiring a rural experience compared to his familiar urban lifestyle, Fenty declined acceptance at Columbia University in New York and instead enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio, where in 1992 he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics. He returned to Washington, D.C., to attend law school at Howard University and earned a Juris Doctorate in 1996.

Fenty gained practical experience in politics as an intern for Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-MA). Subsequently, he became involved in local politics, first as an advisory neighborhood commissioner and later as elected president of the 16th Street Neighborhood Association. For two years, Fenty worked as lead attorney and counsel for the D.C. Council Committee on Education, Libraries, and Recreation. When he decided to run for Ward Four Council, in 2000, he defeated the four-term incumbent Charlene Drew Jarvis, the daughter of the blood plasma and transfusion pioneer Charles Drew, by a 57–43 percent margin via an aggressive door-to-door campaign. Fenty was elected for a second term in 2004 after he ran unopposed in both the primary and the general elections.

On 1 June 2005 Fenty announced his campaign for mayor of Washington, D.C. The then-current mayor, Anthony A. Williams, announced that he would not seek reelection and endorsed Council Chair Linda Cropp. Other candidates in the mayoral race included Councilmember Vincent Orange, the businesswoman Marie Johns, and the lobbyist Michael Brown. On 12 September 2006 Fenty made history in the District of Columbia by winning all 142 precincts in the Democratic primary and earning 89 percent of the vote in the general election. In November 2006 Fenty was elected the fifth mayor of the District of Columbia; at age thirty-five, he was also the youngest mayor in the District's history. During his tenure in office his approval ratings dropped across a range of issues, which include city schools, creating jobs, and eliminating waste; in contrast, his approval rating for crime reduction increased, primarily owing to votes from white D.C. residents. He has been applauded for attracting new businesses and improving city services but some District residents have questioned his honesty, empathy, and openness because of perceived neglect in the African American compared to the predominantly white neighborhoods and secrecy regarding funds received from the United Arab Emirates for a weeklong trip to Dubai and $11,300 from government entities in China to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Fenty is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and the Mayors against Illegal Guns Coalition. He participates in triathlons and other races in the District of Columbia and throughout the mid-Atlantic region. In 2008 Fenty publicly endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president of the United States. In 2009 he signed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Act of 2009 to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C. Fenty's 2010 mayoral campaign broke fundraising records in the District of Columbia, but he was ultimately unsuccessful in his re-election bid, losing to Vincent C. Gray.

Fenty met his future wife, Michelle Cross, at Howard University Law School in 1994. He was a first-year student; she, British born and of Jamaican descent, was a third-year student and mentor to the former. The couple was married in 1997; together they have twin sons, Matthew and Andrew (2000) and a daughter Aerin Alexandra (2008).

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