• Office Sought: Representative, California (51)
• Birth Date: Sept. 4, 1942
• Occupation: Professor
• Religion: Jewish
• Web site: http://www.house.gov/filner/

Education

• Cornell University, PhD
• Cornell University, BA
• University of Delaware, MA

Robert Filner was born in Pittsburgh and lives in San Diego. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Cornell University, a master's degree in history from the University of Delaware and a doctorate in history from Cornell.

He served as a legislative assistant to the late Sen. Hubert Humphrey, D-Minn., in 1974 and as an aide to then-Rep. Donald Fraser, D-Minn., in 1975.

In 1979, Filner was elected to the San Diego Board of Education, serving until 1983. He was board president in 1982.

In 1984, he worked as an aide to Rep. Jim Bates, D-San Diego, and in 1986-87 he was chairman of San Diego's Schools of the Future Commission, an education advisory board.

He was elected to the San Diego City Council in 1987, where he served two terms and was appointed deputy mayor.

Filner taught history at San Diego State University intermittently for two decades, beginning in 1970.

He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1992.

Filner and his wife, Jane Merrill, have two children.