Ex-Congressman Chet Holifield, 91, Dies : Obituary: He lived in Balboa for last 20 years. He worked for nuclear power and helped establish the GSA.

Former Rep. Chet Holifield, who represented eastern Los Angeles County for 32 years and earned the title “Mr. Atomic Energy” for his work on nuclear power, has died. He was 91.

Holifield, who had lived in Balboa for the last 20 years, died of pneumonia Sunday in Redlands.

First elected in 1942, Holifield was reelected continuously by the overwhelming majority of his constituents in the Whittier area until his voluntary retirement in 1974.

Holifield was an original member and a former chairman of the now-disbanded Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and worked for civilian rather than military control of nuclear power.

He was a strong supporter of the atomic submarine fleet, a nuclear navy and high safety standards in producing and disposing of all nuclear products.

Holifield also served on the Government Operations Committee, where he authored the legislation establishing the General Services Administration .

He brought Southern California federal funds for flood control, bilingual education, post offices, hospitals, libraries, the Whittier College science building, Norwalk parkland and the Pico Rivera municipal golf course.

The former congressman was born in Mayfield, Ky., and spent his early youth in Springdale, Ark. As a 16-year old, he left home, riding the rails to Southern California. He started a dry-cleaning business in Montebello and expanded it into a successful men’s clothing store. He spent his retirement years at his home in Balboa.

Holifield’s wife, Cam, who greeted visitors to the congressman’s office, died in 1991.

The couple moved to Orange County shortly after his retirement to be close to the beach, said his daughter, Betty Holifield Feldmann of Potomac, Md.

“They had always loved the beach,” Feldmann said. “We used to come down a lot during the summer when I was a young girl. We rented a house at Surfside in Seal Beach.”

Holifield bought his retirement home in Balboa even before leaving Congress.

“He loved it and he was very proud of the fact that in his early days in Congress . . . he fought the oil interests” to prevent drilling within three miles of the coast,” Feldmann said.

Federal officials named the landmark Ziggurat building in Laguna Niguel after Holifield to honor his work in obtaining the private structure in the 1970s.

“He thought it was a great honor to have that named after him,” Feldmann said. “He had helped the General Services Administration obtain that building.”

Holifield moved from his Balboa home one month before his death to a health-care unit in a retirement home in Redlands, Feldmann said.

He is survived by two daughters, Lois Mulholland of Redlands and Betty Feldmann of Potomac, Md.; 15 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Rose Hills Memorial Chapel in Whittier. The family has asked that any memorial donations be sent to the Alzheimer’s Foundation.