James D. Santini

James David Santini was born on August 13, 1937, in Reno, Nevada. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1962. He was admitted to the State Bar of Nevada that same year, and later to the bars of California and Arizona. He served in the United States Army from 1963 to 1966.

Santini built a distinguished legal and judicial career in Clark County. He served as a Clark County deputy district attorney from 1966 to 1968 and as Clark County public defender from 1968 to 1970. He then took the bench, serving as a Las Vegas justice of the peace from 1970 to 1972 and as a Clark County district court judge from 1972 to 1974. During these years he also owned and taught the Nevada Bar Review, helping prepare a generation of new attorneys for practice.

In 1974 Santini was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served Nevada's at-large district from 1975 to 1983 - the last person to represent the entire state as an at-large member. After leaving Congress he continued in public and professional life, later working for many years as legislative counsel for the National Tour Association. He died on September 22, 2015, at the age of 78.