Born just long enough ago to have served in World War II in Naval Intelligence, Jim Fitzgerald’s early visit to Hawaii gave him a lifelong interest in scuba-diving and things of the sea. From his father, he inherited an interest in real estate, and you could say his other consuming passion was inherited too. For Jim, like many Irish Americans, is a profoundly political person, his focus being on his home turf, the San Francisco Bay area of California.

He was Mayor and Councilman of San Bruno for eight years, on the Board of Supervisors for twenty years, and was President of the Board of Supervisors for many terms during those twenty years. Here is an account of his endeavors, faux pas and successes over his long political career, which only ended after his fifth term as Supervisor.

Labeled wrongly by some as a buy and build businessman, Jim has actually always believed in putting something back into the community, and his expertise benefited San Bruno hugely. The Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is a lasting testimony to his long and varied life’s work, succinctly recorded for us in this excellent tell it as it is memoir.