Vera Katz

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American politician

title: "Vera Katz" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1933-births", "2017-deaths", "20th-century-mayors-of-places-in-oregon", "21st-century-mayors-of-places-in-oregon", "deaths-from-leukemia-in-oregon", "brooklyn-college-alumni", "emigrants-from-nazi-germany-to-the-united-states", "jewish-american-mayors", "jewish-american-women-in-politics", "american-people-of-russian-jewish-descent", "mayors-of-portland,-oregon", "politicians-from-brooklyn", "speakers-of-the-oregon-house-of-representatives", "democratic-party-members-of-the-oregon-house-of-representatives", "women-mayors-of-places-in-oregon", "women-state-legislators-in-oregon", "women-legislative-speakers", "jewish-american-people-in-oregon-politics", "21st-century-american-jews", "21st-century-american-women-politicians", "20th-century-members-of-the-oregon-legislative-assembly", "20th-century-american-women-politicians", "german-emigrants-to-france", "politicians-from-düsseldorf"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Katz" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Vera Katz
image	Vera Katz.jpg
office	49th Mayor of Portland, Oregon
term_start	January 3, 1993
term_end	January 3, 2005
predecessor	Bud Clark
successor	Tom Potter
office2	57th Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
term_start2	January 14, 1985
term_end2	November 10, 1990
predecessor2	Grattan Kerans
successor2	Larry Campbell
office3	Member of the Oregon House of Representatives
term_start3	1973
term_end3	1990
constituency3	Multnomah County
party	Democratic
birth_name	Vera Pistrak
birth_date
birth_place	Düsseldorf, Germany
death_date
death_place	Portland, Oregon, U.S.
spouse	Mel Katz (1964–1985; divorced)
children	1
profession	Politician
death_cause	Leukemia
::

Vera Katz (née Pistrak; August 3, 1933 – December 11, 2017) was 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. She grew up in New York City, moving to Portland in 1962, and was elected to the Oregon House in 1972. She served as mayor from 1993 to 2005.

Early life

Vera Katz was born on August 3, 1933, as Vera Pistrak in Düsseldorf, Germany. Her parents, Elizar ("Lazar Michael Pistrak"; 1896–1985) and Raissa (1896–1986), fled Moscow, Russia, after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, settling in Germany. As Jewish Mensheviks, the family, including Vera's elder sister, Senaida ("Zena"; born March 5, 1925), fled for France when Vera was two 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. They settled in Brooklyn. Vera's parents later divorced when she was 12 years old, and her mother was known as Raissa Goodman for the remainder of her life.

Education

Katz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College in 1955 and a Master of Arts degree in 1957. She worked as a camp counselor in upstate New York where she met her future husband, Mel Katz, a waiter and artist.

After they moved, she gave birth to a son, Jesse.

Early political activities

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.

Political career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Vera_Katz_at_opening_of_Kings_Hill_MAX_extension,_August_1997.jpg" caption="Katz speaking in 1997"] ::

In 1972, Vera Katz was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives 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.

Mayor of Portland

In 1992, Katz ran for mayor of Portland, promoting her candidacy by using public transportation to commute to her office. She won the election and served three terms, 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 and bike-friendly civic engagement culture. In 2004, she did not run 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 hysterectomy. While her cancer was beaten, treatment of her uterine cancer damaged Katz's kidneys and she subsequently was forced to undergo kidney dialysis three times a week for the rest of her life.

Later years

Vera and Mel Katz divorced in 1985; their son, Jesse, went on to a career in journalism.

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.

In her final job, which she began in 2008, Katz worked as a lobbyist for the public relations firm Gallatin Public Affairs. Despite limited mobility in her declining years, Katz would remain with the firm until her retirement in 2012.

Death and legacy

Katz died peacefully in her sleep around 4 am on December 11, 2017, in Portland one week after being diagnosed with leukemia. She was 84 years old at the time of her death. Katz was survived by her son, Jesse Katz, a Los Angeles journalist; her grandson Max Katz; her former husband, Mel Katz; and her elder sister, Zena Linden.

At the time of her death, Katz was eulogized in an editorial in the Portland Oregonian, which declared:

::quote

During her three terms as mayor from 1992 to 2004, Katz altered the shape, look and dynamism of the city, helping to put it right up there with Brooklyn as a magnet for young people. She worked night and day on Portland, as feverishly if she were touching up her personal masterpiece and, in many ways, she was. ::

Katz was remembered as a detail-oriented and energetic public servant. She was instrumental in the development of a multi-use pathway, now known as the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, a 1.5 mi river walk 30 feet above the Willamette River which runs from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Steel Bridge and is part of the Portland Parks system. The Esplanade, construction of which was completed in May 2001, was named for Katz in November 2004 in honor of her civic achievement. A bronze statue of Katz by sculptor Bill Bane was added to the project in 2006.

References

Ellis, Barnes (November 17, 1991). "Legislator seeks to build consensus". ''[[The Oregonian]]''.
H., Feldman, Lawrence. (2016). "Franco's refugees : records of the Jews who came through Spain and Portugal to New York City, 1940-1941".
(December 13, 2017). "Vera Katz, Mayor Who Oversaw Portland's Flowering, Dies at 84". [[The New York Times]].
"Oregon Legislative Assembly: 1973 Regular Session (57th)". [[Oregon State Archives]].
"Oregon Legislative Assembly: 1991 Regular Session (66th)". [[Oregon State Archives]].
Santen, David. (December 10, 2004). "News: Mayor Vera Katz to Join PSU". PSU Office of Marketing and Communications.
"Oregon Legislative Assembly: 1984 Special Session (62nd)". [[Oregon State Archives]].
Running against then city commissioner [[Earl Blumenauer]], she campaigned on a platform that included reducing crime rates.Ellis, Barnes (November 20, 1991). "Katz offers ideas to reduce crime in Portland". ''[[The Oregonian]]''.
(December 11, 2017). "Former Portland Mayor Vera Katz, 84, has passed away". [[KATU]].
(March 14, 2007). "Vera Katz". Bureau of Human Resources, Management and Finance, City of Portland.
Floum, Jessica. (December 11, 2017). "Vera Katz, former Portland mayor, dies at 84". [[The Oregonian]]/[[OregonLive]].
Stern, Henry. (January 17, 2007). "Herding Katz". [[Willamette Week]].
Floum, Jessica. (December 12, 2017). [https://web.archive.org/web/20171213045126/http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/12/vera_katz_as_jewish_immigrant.html "Vera Katz, as Jewish Immigrant and Portland Mayor, Strove to Serve Adopted Home,"] ''The Oregonian.''
Oregonian Editorial Board. (December 12, 2017). "Rest in peace, Mayor Katz [editorial]". The Oregonian.
"Eastbank Esplanade". [[Portland Parks & Recreation]] [City of Portland].

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