William Petit
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 22nd district
In office
January 4, 2017 – January 4, 2023
Preceded byBetty Boukas
Succeeded byFrancis Cooley
Personal details
Born
William Arthur Petit, Jr.

(1956-09-24) September 24, 1956
Southington, Connecticut, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
Jennifer Hawke
​
​
(m. 1985; died 2007)​
    Christine Paluf
    ​
    (m. 2012)​
    Children3 (2 deceased)

    William A. Petit Jr. (born September 24, 1956)[1] is an American former physician and politician. A Republican, he represented District 22 (Plainville and formerly part of New Britain) in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 2017 to 2023. A former physician, he was the sole survivor of the 2007 Cheshire home invasion, in which his wife and two daughters were murdered.

    Early life and education

    Petit was born in Southington[1] and grew up in Plainville, where his father had a general store and was on the school board and the town council as well as being a member of the Republican state central committee.[2][3] After graduating from Plainville High School, he earned an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in endocrinology at the Yale University School of Medicine.[4]

    Practice as a physician and home invasion

    In 1989, Petit entered private practice in Plainville. In 1989, he also became medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center at New Britain General Hospital, now a campus of The Hospital of Central Connecticut, and from 1994 to 2008 he served as Director of Public Health for Plainville.[4]

    On July 23, 2007, Petit's wife, Jennifer, and two daughters were murdered in a home invasion robbery and arson at their house in Cheshire. Mrs. Petit and one of her daughters were raped before their deaths. Despite serious injuries from a baseball bat, Petit escaped and was the only survivor.[3][5]

    Philanthropy and advocacy

    In the years following the loss of his family, Petit attended the trials of the two attackers who were later both convicted of murder,[3][5] and devoted himself to philanthropy. In 2007, he founded the Petit Family Foundation, which supports education, especially of women in science; people affected by chronic illnesses (his wife had multiple sclerosis); and assistance to victims of violence.[3][4][6] He also advocated for victims' rights and in defense of the death penalty.[7]

    In 2012, the Democratic-controlled state legislature of Connecticut and Governor Dannel Malloy abolished the death penalty for future crimes. 11 men remained on the state's death row until 2015, when the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled, by a vote of 4-3, in State v. Santiago, that applying the death penalty only for past cases was unconstitutional, thus ending the death penalty in Connecticut. The two attackers were subsequently re-sentenced to life without parole.[2][3][8]

    Political career

    In 2014 Petit, a Republican, considered running for Congress in the 5th district against then freshman Democrat Elizabeth Esty, but decided against it.[3][5][7] He also declined to run for the seat in 2018.[9]

    In the 2016 election, he won election to the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 22nd district, defeating 11-term incumbent Democrat Elizabeth "Betty" Boukus.[2][3] He defeated Democrat Richard Ireland Jr. for his second term in 2018[6] and ran unopposed for reelection in 2020.[10]

    Petit declined to run for reelection in 2022.[11][12]

    Personal life

    On April 13, 1985, Petit married Jennifer Hawke (1958-2007),[13] in Meadville, Pennsylvania with whom he had two daughters:

    • Hayley Elizabeth Petit (October 15, 1989 - July 23, 2007)[14]
    • Michaela Rose Petit (November 17, 1995 - July 23, 2007)[15]

    Petit's daughters, Hayley and Michaela, were 17 and 11 when they and his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit were murdered. In 2012, he remarried to Christine Paluf, a photographer whom he met when she volunteered for the Petit Foundation.[3][16] They have a son:

    • William Arthur Petit III (November 23, 2013)[3][5]

    Petit and his family reside in Farmington, Connecticut.[17]

    References

    1. 1 2 "William Petit, Jr.'s Biography". Vote Smart. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
    2. 1 2 3 Leukhardt, Bill (November 8, 2016). "William Petit Jr. Unseats Longtime Incumbent Betty Boukus". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on July 7, 2021.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Foderaro, Lisa W. (March 2, 2018). "From Gruesome Tragedy Emerges a New Life in Politics". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018.
    4. 1 2 3 "About State Representative William A. Petit Jr". Connecticut House GOP. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
    5. 1 2 3 4 Altimari, Daniela (July 21, 2017). "From Years Of Despair, Petit Rebuilds Family, New Life". Hartford Courant.
    6. 1 2 Murphy, Kayla (November 7, 2018). "Petit wins second term in 22nd House District". New Britain Herald.
    7. 1 2 Pazniokas, Mark (February 5, 2014). "Dr. William Petit will not run for Congress". The Connecticut Mirror.
    8. ↑ Death Penalty info by state, deathpenaltyinfo.org. Accessed 21 January 2023.
    9. ↑ Pazniokas, Mark (April 25, 2018). "GOP fails in its courtship of Bill Petit for Congress". The Connecticut Mirror.
    10. ↑ Corica, Susan (November 3, 2020). "Petit, running unopposed, to begin third term as state rep for Plainville, New Britain". New Britain Herald.
    11. ↑ Johnson, Brian M. (May 10, 2022). "Rep. Bill Petit will not seek reelection". The Bristol Press.
    12. ↑ Buchanan, Jesse (May 12, 2022). "Petit not seeking re-election in House district that now includes Southington". Record-Journal.
    13. ↑ "Jennifer Hawke-Petit Obituary (2007) - Plainville, CT - Hartford Courant". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
    14. ↑ "Hayley Petit Obituary (2007) - Plainville, CT - Hartford Courant". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
    15. ↑ "Michaela Petit Obituary (2007) - Plainville, CT - Hartford Courant". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
    16. ↑ Egan, Nicole Weisensee (August 9, 2012). "Dr. William Petit Remarries Five Years After Family Tragedy". People.
    17. ↑ Archive, View Author; Author, Email the; feed, Get author RSS (2015-09-06). "Dad rebuilds life after family was bound, tortured and murdered". Retrieved 2023-11-13. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
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