June 1954: Graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University.

1954-57: Received an honors degree at Oxford University's Balliol College as a Rhodes scholar.

June 1960: Graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School; married Christine Dunbar of Brighton, England.

November 1966: Elected to represent Baltimore in the state House of Delegates, where he served on the Judiciary and the Ways and Means committees.

November 1970: Won a seat in the House of Representatives, after defeating a 13-term incumbent and committee chairman in the Democratic primary.

August 1974: Drew national attention as he introduced the first article of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon as a member of the House Judiciary Committee investigating the Watergate scandal.

November 1976: Won a Senate seat, defeating one-term Republican J. Glenn Beall Jr. after beating former senator Joseph D. Tydings Jr. in the Democratic primary.

April 1978: Helped lead the successful 22-day debate on the Senate floor to ratify the Panama Canal treaty, earning him the enmity of conservative groups.

November 1982: Won reelection handily despite an orchestrated campaign against him by the National Conservative Political Action Committee.

May 1987: Appointed to the committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal, where he criticized President Ronald Reagan for allowing a "junta in the White House."

January 1995: Became the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

July 1995: Served as ranking Democrat on the Senate Whitewater Committee, where he argued sharply with Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.) in the investigation into President Bill Clinton's real estate dealings and the suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr.

July 2002: Won passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act while serving as Banking Committee chairman. It places stricter rules on the accounting industry to guard against practices that contributed to Enron Corp.'s failure and other scandals.

SOURCE: Sarbanes to Retire From Senate
Surprise Decision Sets Off Scramble in Maryland Among Potential Successors
By Spencer S. Hsu and John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 12, 2005; Page A01