Ralph Becker — Life: A career in politics was unexpected

Ralph Becker always has known where to find the trailhead to a career in political service.

He just didn't expect ever to take that hike.

Growing up in Washington, D.C, and being raised by politically active parents, Becker was introduced at a young age to government workings and took an interest in political matters.

But running for office "was never a consideration," he told the Deseret Morning News.

Well, almost never.

On Jan. 7, Becker will be sworn in as mayor of Salt Lake City, extending by at least four years a political career that has included an 11-year stay in the Utah House of Representatives.

Until about 12 years ago, "mayor" and "representative" were not titles Becker ever envisioned being associated with his name. He already had several labels he was content with — lawyer, professional planner, consultant, business owner, environmentalist, outdoorsman, father and even grandfather.

Becker was happy to follow in the footsteps of his politically famous father, Ralph E. Becker Sr., with the exception of party affiliation.

"He was a Republican, actually," Becker, a Democrat, said of his father, who died in 1994 at age 87.

Ralph Becker Sr. was involved in politics throughout his life but never in elected office. He served as President Gerald R. Ford's ambassador to Honduras and previously was an appointee of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and general counsel for the National Center for the Performing Arts, which later became the John F. Kennedy Center.

The younger Becker moved to Salt Lake City in 1974 to attend law school at the University of Utah. He became familiar with Utah and the West a few years earlier working summers as a seasonal employee at Grand Canyon National Park.

"After my first summer, when I went back to school (at the University of Pennsylvania) I realized that my desired geography was here in the West and in this region," he said.

Becker got involved in Utah government in 1981, when he was hired by then-Gov. Scott M. Matheson to spearhead Project BOLD, a major land-exchange proposal between Utah and the federal government to consolidate state holdings scattered within federal lands, such as vast tracts administered by the Bureau of Land Management and even national parks.