Beth Krom

Beth Krom, was born in Buffalo to news anchor Irv Weinstein and his wife Elaine. She attended P.S. 81 in North Buffalo through second grade. In 1965, her family moved to the nearby suburb of Kenmore, New York where Beth attended Lindbergh Elementary, Kenmore Junior High and Kenmore West High School.

Krom and her husband, Solly, had three children: daughter Abby, and sons Hershel and Noah. Noah died in 2009 at age 22, a week prior to his graduation from the University of California Santa Barbara. The autopsy found his blood alcohol level to have been.257 at the time of his death.

In 2000 Krom first ran for public office as a candidate for the Irvine City Council. Out of a field of eleven candidates, she came in third, winning a two-year term. In 2002, she won re-election to the City Council as the top vote-getter and in 2004 she won her first term as Mayor of Irvine. In 2006, Beth Krom was re-elected with almost 60% of the vote, the largest margin of victory for any Mayor in a competitive race to that point in the city’s history.

During her term as Mayor, Irvine was recognized as the Safest Big City in America four years in a row and earned recognition as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People” twice. In addition, the city’s “rainy day reserves” were tripled to more than $30 million during her term. Krom and fellow council member Larry Agran led the fight to defeat a plan to turn the abandoned El Toro Marine Corps base into a commercial airport. That land is now the site of the Orange County Great Park, as well as residential housing.

In 2006, Krom was invited to give a commencement address at the University of California, Irvine for the combined schools of Education, Fine Arts and Physical Sciences.

In 2008, with term limits preventing her from running for a third term as Mayor, Krom was again elected to the Irvine City Council, earning the first place spot with a lead of more than 8000 votes over the second-place finisher.