Victor Atiyeh, First Arab-American Governor, Dies in Oregon
Victor “Vic” Atiyeh, Oregon’s 32nd governor and the nation’s first Arab-American governor, died Sunday night when he succumbed to renal failure at a Portland hospital.
Atiyeh turned 91 in February. He served two terms as Oregon governor, from 1979 to 1987. He had fallen in his Washington County home July 5 and injured his ribs. He was readmitted to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center on Saturday for bleeding in his esophagus and stomach.
Atiyeh was born in Portland to Syrian immigrant parents, George and Linda Atiyeh. He attended Portland public schools and the University of Oregon for three years, where he played guard for the Ducks football team. He dropped out of college to tend to the family carpet business, Atiyeh Brothers, at the age of 21 after his father passed away.
A Republican, Atiyeh was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1958. He served three two-year terms in the House, three four-year-terms in the Senate and an additional partial two-year term in the Senate before resigning to be sworn in as governor in January 1979.
Atiyeh first ran for governor in 1974, handily defeating then-Gov. Tom McCall’s hand-picked successor, Secretary of State Clay Myers, in the primary. But he lost to Oregon State Treasurer Bob Straub in the general election amid anti-Republican sentiment generated by the national Watergate scandal that culminated with then-President Richard Nixon’s resignation in August of that year.
After defeating Tom McCall in his attempted 1978 comeback gubernatorial primary, Atiyeh faced Straub again and beat him this time by nearly 10 percentage points. He won re-election to the governorship in 1982 by defeating then Democratic state Sen. Ted Kulongoski.
Known for his hands-on style of leadership and ability to work both sides of the political aisle, Atiyeh both cut budgets and increased taxes to keep the state afloat during the national economic recession that Oregon weathered longer than most states. After his first year in office, Atiyeh faced double-digit unemployment in the state.
He is also credited with launching several economic development initiatives with investments from international companies in Oregon, and opened Oregon’s first international representative office in Tokyo. He led 20 international business trade missions to Asia, and improved trading partnerships enough to earn the nickname, “Trader Vic.”
He was also considered ahead of his time in diversity, appointing the first woman to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court.
A golfer and gun collector, he was involved with the Boy Scouts of America and the Episcopal church. His political papers are archived at Pacific University.
His family, including his wife of 70 years, Dolores, and son Tom and daughter Suzanne, had been at his side throughout his admission, and were with him when he passed away. His brother, Edward, and his wife, Karen, also were there. He also is survived by five grandchildren.
USA Today