He enlisted in the United States Navy after high school in the aftermath of World War II, from 1946 to 1948.
He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1956, thereafter entering private practice in San Francisco, California, from 1956 to 1972.
[1] On November 29, 1971, Renfrew was nominated by President Richard Nixon to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Judge Gerald Sanford Levin.
[1] Following his resignation from the federal bench, he served as United States Deputy Attorney General until 1981.
He was a vice president and counsel of the Chevron Corporation in San Francisco from 1983 to 1993.