Athan Catjakis (May 22, 1931 – January 20, 2022) was an American politician, Catjakis was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Springfield Technical High School. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Catjakis began his political career as chief of staff to mayor William C. Sullivan. Sullivan subsequently appointed Catjakis to Springfield Housing Authority. In 1979, Catjakis became a legislative aide to Arthur J. McKenna. Catjakis worked for McKenna for five years, until McKenna announced his retirement from politics in 1984. Catjakis ran for McKenna's open seat on the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

, and served until the end of his fourth term in 1992, when he was succeeded by his former legislative aide Dennis M. Murphy. He died on January 20, 2022, in

Agawam, Massachusetts Agawam is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 28,692 at the 2020 census. Agawam sits on the western side of the Connecticut River, directly across from Springfield, Massachusetts. It is considered part of t ...

, at the age of 90.

References

1931 births 2022 deaths Politicians from Springfield, Massachusetts Military personnel from Massachusetts Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives {{Massachusetts-politician-stub