G. Joseph Minetti, who was appointed by five Presidents to help regulate aviation as it flourished into the jet age, died Saturday at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 85. He died of heart failure, said his nephew, Thomas J. Donohue. Mr. Minetti, who held high positions in New York City government early in his career, served on the Civil Aeronautics Board for 22 years, lending the panel continuity during years of enormous expansion and transformation in the aviation industry. The board controlled competition, route assignments and fares and also investigated airplane accidents. Eventually jurisdiction over accidents was transferred to the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Civil Aeronautics Board was dissolved when the airline industry was deregulated. Appointed by Eisenhower. Although Mr. Minetti was a Democrat, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican, appointed him to the Federal Maritime Board in 1955, then to the aeronautics board in 1956. His reappointments by Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter made Mr. Minetti one of the longest-serving members of any Federal regulatory panel, Mr. Donohue said. Mr. Minetti was the panel's chairman from 1956-67 and vice chairman at the end of his tenure. He wrote nearly 600 opinions on board cases. After leaving the aeronautics board, he became a partner in the Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin law firm in Washington, where he remained active until his death. In his early career, he held high posts in New York City. Mayor William O'Dwyer appointed him Commissioner of the Marine and Aviation Department from 1946-50, in charge of seaports and airports. He developed plans for a $54 million-dollar seaport modernization and overhauled the city's leases, rents and fees for waterfront property. Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri appointed him Transportation Commissioner from 1950-53 when the agency included the subways and buses and employed 44,000 people. Worked as Prosecutor. He served on many boards, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He was also president of the St. John's School of Law Alumni Association for 18 years. His honors included awards from the Air Line Pilots Association and the Association of Local Transport Airlines. Mr. Minetti was born in Brooklyn. After graduating from Fordham University, he earned law degrees from St. John's. In the 1930's he taught at St. John's and practiced law. Twice he was a prosecutor. From 1937-39 he was a special assistant district attorney in Brooklyn prosecuting a variety of organized crime rackets, thefts and frauds, and misconduct by lawyers. From 1940-43 and 1945-46, he was a special assistant United States attorney in the antitrust division and specialized in war production frauds. In World War II he served in Army intelligence in Europe. His first wife, the former Angela Ahern, died in 1957. In 1961 he married the former Jean Kerr, the widow of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin. She died in 1979. His survivors include his wife of nine years, the former Madeleine Heikenen; a daughter, Tierney Grinavic of Huntington, Md., and a grandchild.