Berkley, Shelley

Rochelle "Shelley" Levine was born in New York City, New York in 1951 and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada during junior high school. Berkley attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she served as student body president and graduated with honors in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. After earning her Juris Doctor in 1976 from the University of San Diego, she returned to Las Vegas, Nevada to practice law. From 1976 to 1979, Berkley served as Deputy Director of the Nevada State Department of Commerce. She provided legal counsel to several casinos at various points in her career, served as national director of the American Hotel-Motel Association, and founded the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys and the Senior Law Project. In 1977, she married Fred Berkley and had two children, Max and Sam. The couple divorced in 1995. Berkley served in the Nevada State Assembly from 1982 to 1985 and on the Board of Regents for the Nevada System of Higher Education from 1990 to 1998. In 1999, she married Dr. Lawrence Lehrner.

Before being elected to Congress, Berkley served on the board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She continued her vocal support of Israel in Congress and was heavily involved in all matters related to the Middle East. She was a member of several committees, including: Foreign Affairs, Veterans Affairs, Ways and Means, Small Business, and Transportation. Building a new Veterans Administration medical complex in Southern Nevada and sponsoring many pieces of healthcare legislation are also among her accomplishments as a U.S. Representative.

In 1998, Berkley successfully ran for Representative for Nevada’s 1st Congressional District. She served seven terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and secured for her district millions of dollars of federal funding for education, transportation, and other projects. She also successfully fought against storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Prior to her election to Congress, Berkley served on the board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She continued to advocate for Israel and the Middle East while in Congress. She served as a member on several committees, including Foreign Affairs, Veterans Affairs, Ways and Means, Small Business, and Transportation. In 2014, the year after her tenure in Congress ended, Shelley Berkley joined the Touro College and University System’s Western Division as CEO and Senior Provost.

Source:

"Berkley, Shelley." United States House of Representatives. Accessed April 17, 2019. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10363