Vera Katz
Encyclopedia
Vera Katz is a Democratic politician in the 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 1962 and was elected to the Oregon House in 1972. She served as mayor from 1993 to 2005. Since leaving office she has continued to battle cancer.
, Germany
. Her parents had fled Moscow, Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution
in 1917, settling in Germany. As Jewish Menshevik
s, the family fled for France
when Vera was 2 months old as Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi Party rose to power. 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 later divorced when she was 12 years old.
She received a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College
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. 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. Jesse went on to graduate from Lincoln High School in 1981 and became a journalist in Los Angeles
; his memoir, The Opposite Field, was published in October 2009.
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
. 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.
as a Democrat representing Portland and Multnomah County
for the 1973 session. She won re-election to additional two-year terms through 1990. In 1985, she became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House, replacing Grattan Kerans
. 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. Running against then city commissioner Earl Blumenauer
, she campaigned on a platform that included reducing crime rates.
She won the election and served from January 1993 until January 2005, winning re-election in 1996 and 2000. During her first term, Mayor Katz endorsed the Yellow Bike Project
, which drew national attention to Portland's artistic & bike-friendly civic engagement culture. 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.
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
called adenosarcoma in June 2004, following a routine hysterectomy.
In June 2003, a statue of Katz was unveiled on the Eastbank Esplanade
. 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. Vera and Mel divorced in 1985, meanwhile their son Jesse went on to a career in journalism.
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
and was the 45th mayor of Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon's most populous city. Growing up in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, she moved to Portland in 1962 and was elected to the Oregon House in 1972. She served as mayor from 1993 to 2005. Since leaving office she has continued to battle cancer.
Early life
Vera Katz was born on August 3, 1933 as Vera Pistrak in DüsseldorfDüsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Her parents had fled Moscow, Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in 1917, settling in Germany. As Jewish Menshevik
Menshevik
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1904 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...
s, the family fled for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
when Vera was 2 months old as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the Nazi Party rose to power. Once World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began and Hitler invaded France, the family of four fled over the Pyrenees Mountains to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
on foot. After a time the family was able to immigrate to the United States and settled in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Vera's parents later divorced when she was 12 years old.
She received a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
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
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
in 1962 after selecting Portland from a list that included Seattle, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Vera and her husband Mel, an artist, had decided to leave New York, with Vera's image of longtime U.S. Senator Wayne Morse
Wayne Morse
Wayne Lyman Morse was a politician and attorney from Oregon, United States, known for his proclivity for opposing his parties' leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds....
helping to decide the matter. She would give birth to a son after they moved, Jesse. Jesse went on to graduate from Lincoln High School in 1981 and became a journalist in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
; his memoir, The Opposite Field, was published in October 2009.
Katz became involved in politics in the late 1960s while working on the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
. Kennedy had antagonized many in Portland through his aggressive pursuit of local corruption as United States Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
. Katz moved on to support the nationwide grape boycott
Delano grape strike
The strike began when the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California, led by Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Benjamin Gines and Pete Velasco, walked off the farms of area table-grape growers, demanding wages equal to the federal minimum wage...
organized in the late 1960s by Cesar Chavez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
to support migrant agricultural workers. She then protested and picketed the City Club of Portland
City Club of Portland
The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was organized in 1916 by a small group of men who began meeting in a downtown Portland restaurant to discuss the city's public institutions and government...
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 RepresentativesOregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
as a Democrat representing Portland and Multnomah County
Multnomah County, Oregon
Multnomah County is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Though smallest in area, it is the most populous as its county seat, Portland, is the state's largest city...
for the 1973 session. She won re-election to additional two-year terms through 1990. In 1985, she became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House, replacing Grattan Kerans
Grattan Kerans
Grattan Kerans is an American politician from Oregon. He was a member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly in the House of Representatives from 1974 through 1984, and in the Oregon State Senate from 1986 to 1993. He held the position of Speaker of the House during the 1983 legislative...
. 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
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
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. Running against then city commissioner Earl Blumenauer
Earl Blumenauer
Earl Blumenauer is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1996. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes most of Portland east of the Willamette River. A native of Portland, he previously spent over 20 years as a public official representing the city.-Early...
, she campaigned on a platform that included reducing crime rates.
She won the election and served from January 1993 until January 2005, winning re-election in 1996 and 2000. During her first term, Mayor Katz endorsed the Yellow Bike Project
Cycling in Portland, Oregon
Bicycle use in Portland, Oregon has been growing rapidly, having nearly tripled since 2001; for example, bicycle traffic on four of the Willamette River bridges has increased from 2,855 before 1992 to over 16,000 in 2008, partly due to improved facilities. Approximately 8% of commuters bike to work...
, which drew national attention to Portland's artistic & bike-friendly civic engagement culture. In 2004, she did not stand for re-election and Tom Potter
Tom Potter
Tom Potter is the former Mayor of the city of Portland, Oregon in the United States. He was elected in 2004, and left office in January 2009. He was succeeded by City Commissioner Sam Adams. Prior to Potter's service as mayor, he was Portland's police chief....
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.
Katz fought off the early stages of breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
in early 2000, with surgery and radiation treatment. Katz was subsequently diagnosed with a rare form of uterine cancer
Uterine cancer
The term uterine cancer may refer to any of several different types of cancer which occur in the uterus, namely:*Uterine sarcomas: sarcomas of the myometrium, or muscular layer of the uterus, are most commonly leiomyosarcomas.*Endometrial cancer:...
called adenosarcoma in June 2004, following a routine hysterectomy.
Later years and family
As of March 2000, Katz had never obtained an Oregon driver's license.In June 2003, a statue of Katz was unveiled on the Eastbank Esplanade
Eastbank Esplanade
The Eastbank Esplanade is a pedestrian and bicycle path along the east shore of the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States...
. 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
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
. As of 2008 she volunteers for the Start Making A Reader Today
Start Making A Reader Today
Start Making A Reader Today is a non-profit volunteer-driven tutoring program local to Oregon for at-risk K-3 readers. SMART was developed by Neil Goldschmidt in 1992...
literacy program in the Portland area, and receives dialysis treatment. Vera and Mel divorced in 1985, meanwhile their son Jesse went on to a career in journalism.