Bert A. Betts

Bert A. Betts, California State Treasurer for eight years during the administration of Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown and a decorated bomber pilot in World War II, died at his home in Sacramento on May 28, 2014. He split his time between Sacramento and Coronado, California. He was 90.

Betts, a CPA, was 36 when sworn in as treasurer in 1959, the youngest man ever elected to a California state Constitutional office at the time. When he discovered that the state bond sale process was dominated by a single financial group that had won uncontested bids for years, Betts convinced a second group to bid. That move restored competitive bidding to bond sales, with a resulting savings of hundreds of millions of dollars in interest costs for the state of California. He also changed investment procedures to broaden the range of state investments, increasing earnings.

During his two terms, his investments earned more than $300 million, a figure exceeding the combined earnings of all previous treasurers. Bonds marketed while he was treasurer totaled nearly $3.5 billion, also more than the amount sold by all previous treasurers—and at the time the highest figure sold by any governmental agency in history, except the federal government.

Betts compiled a stellar Army Air Force record during four years of service (1942-45) during World War II including combat with the Eighth Air Force stationed in England. A B-24 Liberator pilot, he flew 30 missions over occupied Europe, the last two coming on D-Day. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters. Before he was age 21, he earned an Award for Meritorious Achievement from his 458th Bombardment Group, which cited his outstanding performance of duty in the completion of a tour of duty in the European Theater without once failing to complete a mission. The Award said in part: “The tenacity of purpose, determination and efficiency displayed by this officer merit the highest praise, and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army Air Force.”

Bert Betts was born in La Mesa, California, and completed his primary and secondary schooling in San Diego. He attended San Diego State College and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (1950) from California Western University. He followed that by completing the requirements for being a Certified Public Accountant in 1950, becoming a member of the Graduate International Accounting Society.

His public service history included service as president of the Lemon Grove School District Board, member of the Democratic State Central Committee, and a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1960 and 1964.

After the war he joined a San Diego accounting firm, worked his way up to a partnership, then formed his own practice, Bert A Betts and Co., in 1951. He remained in accounting until his election as State Treasurer in 1959. Upon completing two terms as treasurer, he formed a new Sacramento business, Bert A. Betts and Associates, with satellite offices in Beverly Hills and Portland, Oregon, specializing in municipal bond consulting and other aspects of public and private finance.

He also became the general partner in Sacramento Metropolitan Airport Properties #4, Ltd., chief executive officer of International Productions Associates, trustee for Fidelity Mortgage Investors, Jacksonville, FL, and director for Lifetime Communities Inc., the successor to Fidelity Mortgage. With his wife, Barbara Lang Betts, he also operated a cattle and rice ranch in the Natomas area of Sacramento County.

His social and community service organization memberships numbered more than three dozen. Among them were the American Cancer Society chapter in Sacramento in which he served as president in 1967-68; Max Baer Heart Fund state chairman, 1962-64; Lemon Grove Masonic Lodge; Native Sons of the Golden West; Municipal Forum of New York; Commonwealth Club of San Francisco; American Museum of Natural History; American Institute of Certified Public Accounts and other professional organizations; several veterans’ organizations; and the Municipal Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada.

The latter group presented Betts with the City of Louisville Award, conferred annually by the association upon the outstanding fiscal officer in those two nations. The gold medal and scroll were awarded to Betts in 1964. He is the only State Treasurer in America to have been so honored. Along with his wife, Barbara Lang Betts, he authored two books: Decade of Fiscal Responsibility, 1967; and A Citizen Answers, 1972.

Other honors received by Betts included recognition by the California Municipal Treasurers Association for his leadership and direction in the association’s plans and purposes in 1964; induction as an East San Diego County hero in the Grossmont Health District’s Gallery of Honor in 2002; induction as a founding member of the San Diego Hoover High School Achievement Hall of Fame in 1998; and naming as an honorary life member by Alpha Kappa Psi, the oldest national business fraternity, for his efforts in bringing the highest professional standards to the California Treasury.

He was preceded in death by his daughters Linda Hansen and Sarah Ellen Joynt. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Lang Betts; daughters Terry Lou Marsteller, LeAnn Wilson, sons Bert Alan Betts, Randy Wayne Betts, J. Chauncey Hayes, Frederick Prescott Hayes, Roby Hayes II, Bruce Harold Betts, and 19 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

Services were held on June 14, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary, 4300 Imperial Avenue, San Diego.