Vera Katz
| Vera Katz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 49th Mayor of Portland, Oregon | |
|
In office 1993–2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Bud Clark |
| Succeeded by | Tom Potter |
| 57th Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives | |
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In office 1985–1990 |
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| Preceded by | Grattan Kerans |
| Succeeded by | Larry Campbell |
| Constituency | Multnomah County |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Vera Pistrak August 3, 1933 Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mel (?–1985; divorced) |
| Children | Jesse |
| Profession | Politician |
| Religion | Judaism |
Vera Katz (born August 3, 1933) is an American 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 49th 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.
Vera Katz was born on August 3, 1933 as Vera Pistrak in Düsseldorf, Germany. Her parents 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 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 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College in 1955 and a Master of Arts degree in 1957. Vera worked as a camp counselor in upstate New York where she met her future husband, Mel, a waiter. They moved to Portland, Oregon in 1962 after selecting Portland from a list that included Seattle, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Vera and 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. After they moved, she gave birth to a son, 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.
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