J. Eugene McAteer

J. Eugene McAteer (February 28, 1916 – May 26, 1967 ) was an American politician who was San Francisco Supervisor from 1953 to 1958 and a California State Senator from 1959 to 1967.

Early life Eugene McAteer was born on 28 February 1916 to Julia Frances ( Harness) McAteer (1890–1955), and Sam Houston McAteer (1886–1958), in San Francisco, California.

Career McAteer and Daniel J. Sweeney, Jr. operated Tarantino's, a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf, at the Crab Fisherman's Protective Association building site.

The Spinnaker restaurant, on Shell Beach, in Sausalito, was owned by Eugene McAteer, William E. McDonnell and John Lynam, designed by supervising architect Walter Zell, and architects Hertzka and Knowles and built in 1960, by Barrett Construction.

McAteer coauthored legislation to create the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The commission's first director, Joseph Bodovitz, said, "What people tend to forget now is how unusual it was to have anybody of McAteer's stature interested in an environmental issue in the sixties."

In 1967, McAteer, a Democrat, announced his intent to run for Mayor of San Francisco in the November election, opposing the Democratic incumbent John F. Shelley as well as perennial Republican candidate, Harold Dobbs. The campaign was cut short by McAteer's death at age 51 in May of that year, while playing handball at the Olympic Club's downtown facility. Shortly thereafter, attorney Joseph L. Alioto, then working on the McAteer campaign, entered the race and subsequently won that fall's election, eventually serving two terms in the office of Mayor.

Personal life Eugene McAteer married Frances May Twohig (1917-2006), a graduate of Mission High School and San Francisco State University.

Legacy Reid & Tarics designed, from 1967, Diamond Heights High School, Thomas J. Mellon, Chief Administrative Officer of San Francisco, suggested it be renamed for Martin Luther King, it was renamed for McAteer in April 1972, which operated from 1973 to 2002. It is now the site of Academy of Arts & Sciences (San Francisco) and Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts.