George Henry Byer (June 22, 1912 - August 22, 2000) was an American politician who served as

Mayor of Anchorage This is a list of mayors of Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage was incorporated as a city (Alaska), city on November 23, 1920. The Greater Anchorage Area Borough, which encompassed the city, was created in January 1964 ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

from 1959 to 1961. He was the first full-time mayor of Anchorage, and was chiefly responsible for Anchorage's first two

All-America City Award The All-America City Award is a community recognition program in the United States given by the National Civic League. The award recognizes the work of communities in using inclusive civic engagement to address critical issues and create stronge ...

designations. He was a Democrat.

Biography

George Byer, born on June 22, 1912, moved to Alaska in 1947, after serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. From 1951, he worked as a

mail carrier A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

. In 1956, he campaigned successfully to have

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

named as " All-America City", and in 1959 he was elected mayor of the city, serving two terms. From 1963 to 1966 he sat on Anchorage's City Council, during which time he lobbied to renew Anchorage's "All-America City" status (1965), and launched an unsuccessful bid to bring the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

to Anchorage. In 1967, he ran once again for Mayor of Anchorage, but lost to George M. Sullivan. In later years, he lived in Hemet, California and was active in efforts to promote world peace. Byer died, age 88, of heart disease in Hemet on August 22, 2000.

References

1912 births 2000 deaths Mayors of Anchorage, Alaska Alaska city council members 20th-century American politicians {{Alaska-mayor-stub