Bob Ronka was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from the San Fernando Valley's 1st District between 1977 and 1981. For a brief time he represented Leslie Van Houten

Leslie Van Houten

Leslie Louise Van Houten is a former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.-Life with Manson:...

 in the Manson Family criminal murder case.

Biography

Ronka attended North Hollywood High School

North Hollywood High School

North Hollywood High School, originally called Lankershim High School when it opened in 1927, is a secondary school in North Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. The school mascot is the husky, and the school colors are blue, white and grey....

, where he played trombone in a dance-band workshop that studied music ranging from the big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 sound of the early 1930s to the progressive jazz

Progressive Jazz

Progressive Jazz may refer to:*Progressive Records, an American jazz record label*Cool jazz, a style of American music developed during the 1940s*Jazz fusion, a style of music developed on the west coast of the United States in the early 1950s...

 of Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

. He also played with the Dixie Smallfry youth group sponsored by radio-television personality Bill Baldwin. Ronka's father was a former first trombonist with Arturo Toscanini and in 1959 was playing in Meredith Willson

Meredith Willson

Robert Meredith Willson was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man...

's The Music Man in New York City. The younger Ronka was a Phi Beta Kappa student at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 and earned a law degree at Harvard University

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 before serving in the Army in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, where he earned a Bronze Star.

Public service

Ronka was a member of an advisory council formed by Los Angeles District Attorney John Van de Kamp

John Van de Kamp

John Kalar Van de Kamp is an American politician. He served as Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1975 until 1981, and then as 28th Attorney General of California from 1983 until 1991....

 to study reform of the juvenile justice system and was active with the San Fernando Valley Bar Association

City Council

See also List of Los Angeles municipal election returns, 1977.

Ronka was elected to represent Los Angeles City Council District 1 in 1977 and served for four years. He did not run for reelection in 1981 but was an unsuccessful candidate for city attorney

City attorney

A city attorney can be an elected or appointed position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the city or municipality....

instead.