Richard Bryan was born on July 16, 1937 in Washington, D.C. and raised in Las Vegas. He became the first State Public Defender in 1966, was a State Assemblyman, State Senator and Attorney General before being elected governor in 1982. Governor Bryan is the first southern Nevadan to be elected to the state's top executive office. He resigned as Governor January 3, 1989 to assume seat elected to in U.S. Senate. He served in the U.S. Senate until his retirement in December, 2000.