Biography

03/12/1863 - 03/27/1937

FOCHT, Benjamin Kurtz, a Representative from Union County; born, March 12, 1863 in New Bloomfield, Perry County, Pa.; attended, Bucknell Academy (now Bucknell University), Pennsylvania State College (now Pennsylvania State University), and the Selinsgrove Institute (now Susquehanna University); engaged in the printing business; editor and owner, Lewisburg Saturday News (1881-1937); elected as a Republican to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1892; reelected to the House for 2 more consecutive terms; unsuccessful campaign for reelection to the House (1898); elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1901-1904); elected, United States Congress (1907-1913, 1915-1923, 1933-1937); member, Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania (1913-1914); deputy secretary, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1928-1929); unsuccessful campaign for reelection, United States Congress (1912, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932); died while in office of the Congress, March 27, 1937 in Washington, District of Columbia; interred, Lewisburg Cemetery, Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania.