[2] He graduated from Franklin High School in southeast Portland in 1947 at 17, and then joined the United States Army Air Corps (now Air Force) where he served for three years.
[2][3] After deployment in Japan, he attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, graduating with a bachelor's degree and a juris doctor.
[2] After college and law school, Land became a trooper with the Oregon State Police before becoming an aide to Portland mayor Terry Schrunk.
[3] He then worked as an insurance executive before entering politics in 1960 as a Democrat when he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives.
[5] In 1998, Lang was appointed as chairman of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC),[3] and also served as chair of the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association starting in 2006.