Vera Katz

Infobox_Politician
name = Vera Katz


office = 45^th Mayor of Portland, Oregon
term_start = 1993
term_end = 2005
predecessor = Bud Clark
successor = Tom Potter
office2 = Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
term_start2 = 1985
term_end2 = 1990
predecessor2 = Grattan Kerans
successor2 = Larry Campbell
constituency2 = Multnomah County
office3 =
term_start3 =
term_end3 =
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
party = Democratic Party
date of birth = Birth date and age|1933|8|3|mf=y
place of birth= Düsseldorf, Germany
date of death =
place of death=
spouse =
profession = politician
religion = Judaism
footnotes =

Vera Katz (born August 3 1933) is a German born Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 45th mayor of Portland, Oregon's most populous city. Growing up in New York City, she moved to Portland in the 1950s and was elected to the Oregon House in 1972. She served as mayor from 1993 to 2005, and since leaving office has battled a rare form of cancer.

Early life

Vera Katz was born on August 3 1933 as Vera Pistrak in Düsseldorf, Germany.Ellis, Barnes. Legislator seeks to build consensus. "The Oregonian", November 17 1991.] Her parents had fled Moscow, Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, settling in Germany. As Jewish Mensheviks, the family fled for France when Vera was 2 months old as Adolf Hitler and the anti-semitic Nazis rose to power in Germany. Once World War II began and Hitler invaded France, the family of four fled over the Pyrenees Mountains to Spain on foot. After a time the family was able to immigrate to the United States and settled in New York City. Vera's parents would divorce when she was 12.

She received a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955 and a Master of Arts in 1957. Vera would work as a camp counselor in upstate New York where she met her future husband, a waiter. They moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1962 after selecting Portland from a list that included Seattle, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.Anderson, Jennifer. [http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=25878 Vera's Town] . "The Portland Tribune", August 27 2004. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] Vera and her husband Mel, an artist, had decided to leave New York, with Vera's image of longtime U.S. Senator Wayne Morse helping to decide the matter. She would give birth to a son after they moved, Jesse.

Katz became involved in politics in the late 1960s while working on the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy had antagonized many in Portland through his aggressive pursuit of local corruption as United States Attorney General.Fact|date=March 2008 Katz moved on to support the nationwide grape boycott organized in the late 1960s by Cesar Chavez to support migrant agricultural workers. She then protested and picketed the City Club of Portland over their male only membership requirement in the early 1970s, leading to the end of the practice by the private club.

Political career

In 1972, Vera Katz was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Democrat representing Portland and Multnomah County for the 1973 session. [ [http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/legislative/histleg/statehood/1973reg.htm Oregon Legislative Assembly (57th) 1973 Regular Session] . Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on March 26 2008.] She won re-election to additional two-year terms through 1990. [ [http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/legislative/histleg/statehood/1991reg.htm Oregon Legislative Assembly (66th) 1991 Regular Session] . Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on March 26 2008.] In 1985, she became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House, replacing Grattan Kerans.Santen, David. [http://www.pdx.edu/news/4126/ News: Mayor Vera Katz to Join PSU] . PSU Office of Marketing and Communications, December 10 2004. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] [ [http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/legislative/histleg/statehood/1984spec.htm Oregon Legislative Assembly (62nd) 1984 Special Session] . Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on March 26 2008.] While in the Oregon House, she sponsored the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century, a landmark school reform bill. She also helped pass measures on gun control as well as legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender in places of public accommodation and credit. Katz was the first person in Oregon history to hold the position of Speaker for three straight sessions.

In 1992, Katz ran for mayor of Portland, promoting her candidacy by using public transportation to commute to her office.Fact|date=August 2007 As of March 2000, Katz had never obtained a valid Oregon driver's license.Fact|date=March 2008 Running against then city commissioner Earl Blumenauer, she campaigned on a platform that included reducing crime rates. [Ellis, Barnes. Katz offers ideas to reduce crime in Portland. "The Oregonian", November 20 1991.] She won the election and served from January 1993 until January 2005, winning re-election in 1996 and 2000.Fact|date=March 2008 In 2004, she did not stand for re-election and Tom Potter was elected as mayor in November 2004, assuming office in January 2005. During her administration, Katz pursued a policy of revitalization of the city's neighborhoods.Fact|date=March 2008 Katz fought off the early stages of breast cancer in early 2000, with surgery and radiation treatment. Katz was subsequently diagnosed with a rare form of uterine cancer, adenosarcoma, in June 2004, following a routine hysterectomy.cite web
last = Human Resources, Management and Finance
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Vera Katz
work = Womens History Month Blog 2007
publisher = City of Portland
date = March 14, 2007
url = http://www.portlandonline.com/omf/index.cfm?a=bejcej&c=eeafd
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-03-25 ]

Later years and family

In June 2003, a statue of Katz was unveiled on the Eastbank Esplanade. [cite news
title=Esplanade statue A look-alike for former mayor
last=Yao
first=Stephanie
url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ORGB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=1120AC164D93E808&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=8CE642B8CA5C4083BE84A2539D6E1A73
work=The Oregonian
date=June 3, 2006] In November 2004, the bicycle and pedestrian trail was officially renamed the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade in honor of the former mayor. In January 2005, the former mayor began an unpaid position as a Dean's Visiting Fellow in the College of Urban and Public Affairs' Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University. As of 2008 she volunteers for the Start Making A Reader Today literacy program in the Portland area, and receives dialysis treatment. [Stern, Henry. [http://wweek.com/editorial/3310/8451/ Herding Katz] . "Willamette Week", January 17 2007. Retrieved on March 25 2008.] Vera and Mel divorced in 1985, meanwhile their son Jesse went on to a career in journalism.

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Mayor of Portland, Oregon
before=Bud Clark
years=1992-2005
after=Tom Potter

References

External links

* [http://www.portlandonline.com/omf/index.cfm?a=bejcej&c=eeafd City of Portland profile]