Denis Law served Renton with distinction for four years as a city councilmember and then for 12 years as mayor. The only three-term mayor in the city's history, he guided the city out of the recession and turned Renton into a home for heath care, high tech (in addition to airplanes), while creating a quality of life for residents that is the envy of the region.
Incoming Mayor Armondo Pavone hosts this sometime humorous, sometimes serious look at Mayor Law's legacy.
Denis Law began serving as mayor in January 2008, and retired on Dec. 2019, as the only three term mayor in Renton's history. Prior to becoming mayor, he served four years on the Renton City Council.
Mayor Law and his wife Patty reside in the Kennydale neighborhood and have two grown daughters who live in Renton and Covington, Washington. Before being elected mayor, he was the owner and president of Puget Sound Publishing Co. in Renton with publications that included the Renton Reporter, Kent Reporter, Auburn Reporter, Business Report and Renton Magazine.
He is the past president (2012-2014) of Sound Cities Association (SCA), an organization that represents 38 cities in King County with a population of more than a million residents. He is past chairman of the Greater Renton Chamber of Commerce, past president of Renton Rotary, a past board member of Renton Technical College Foundation and Renton Community Foundation, and served on the Downtown Renton Association.
Prior to starting his publishing company in Renton, Mayor Law co-owned a publishing company in Seattle that included seven community newspapers. He served as vice president of Pacific Media Group in Seattle and was the publisher of the Kirkland Courier in Kirkland and the Sammamish Valley News in Redmond.
During his publishing career, he served on the boards of six chambers in Seattle and the Eastside; was appointed to the Seattle Mayor’s Small Business Task Force; served as president of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association that represented 110 weekly newspapers and small daily newspapers throughout the state; and was a board member of Camp Fire Boys and Girls of East King County.
Mayor Law currently serves on several boards and committees, including:
- Member of Communities In Schools of Renton Advisory Committee
- Chair of the Renton Chamber of Commerce’s Blue Ribbon Panel
- Chair of the Renton Firefighters' Pension Board
- King County Flood Control Zone District Advisory Committee
- Executive Board Member of the Puget Sound Regional Council
- Administrative Board Member (past chair) of South Correctional Entity
- Board member (past chair) Valley Communications Center (9-1-1 dispatch center)
- Member of Eastside Rail Corridor Regional Advisory Council
- Member of Aerospace Works for Washington coalition
- Member of King County Regional E-911 Leadership Group
- Member of King County EMS Advisory Task Force, and chair of the Basic Life Services (BLS) subcommittee