Jeanne Bodfish

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Jeanne Bodfish

| image = Portrait of Jeanne Bodfish in the 1954 TN Blue Book.png

| office = 31st Comptroller of the Treasury of Tennessee

| governor = Frank G. Clement

| term_start = January 1953

| term_end = January 1955

| predecessor = Cedric Hunt

| successor = William R. Snodgrass

| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|1|7}}

| birth_place = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|10|31|1920|1|7}}

| death_place = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

| party = Democratic

| spouse = Robert V. Bodfish

| children = 2

| education = Vanderbilt University (BA, MA)
University of Chicago (JD)

}}

Jeanne Stephenson Bodfish (January 7, 1920 — October 31, 2012) was an American politician who served as the 31st Comptroller of the Treasury of Tennessee from 1953 to 1955.

Bodfish was Tennessee's first and only female Comptroller of the Treasury.{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Joel |date=2017-08-06 |title=These women running for governor could make Tennessee history |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/08/07/black-beavers-harwell-could-make-history-tn-governors-race/537917001/ |access-date=2022-09-05}}

Biography

Bodfish was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1920 to Margaret and Jay Stephenson. She studied political science at Vanderbilt University and law at the University of Chicago.{{cite act|date=13 February 2013|article=|article-type=|legislature=108th General Assembly of Tennessee|title=Senate Joint Resolution 98|url=https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/108/resolutions/sjr0098.pdf}}

Bodfish was a political science instructor at Vanderbilt University from 1950 to 1952.{{Cite book |last=Friar |first=George |title=1954 Tennessee Blue Book |publisher=Tennessee Secretary of State |year=1954 |pages=26}}

In 1953, Bodfish was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to become the Comptroller of the Treasury of Tennessee. She only served one term of two years.

Bodfish died on October 31, 2012, survived by her two children.

Family and legacy

Bodfish married Robert Valentine Bodfish in 1945. They had two children: Jayne and John.

The 108th General Assembly of Tennessee recognized Bodfish's "insightful decisions on governmental accountability" and how they impacted the government of Tennessee for the sixty years following her election in 1953.

References

{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-off}}

{{succession box | before = Cedric Hunt |title=Comptroller of the Treasury of Tennessee | years = 1953–1955 | after = William R. Snodgrass}}

{{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodfish, Jeanne S.}}

Category:1920 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:Comptrollers of the treasury of Tennessee

Category:Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee

Category:Vanderbilt University alumni

Category:University of Chicago alumni

{{Tennessee-politician-stub}}