Ivan Itkin (March 29, 1936 – April 5, 2020) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1973 to 1998. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Early life

Itkin was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on March 9, 1936. In 1956, he graduated from the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. Itkin went on to receive a master's degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

in Nuclear Engineering in 1957. After a stint working as a reactor physicist at Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory Itkin received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in 1964. He worked as a nuclear scientist and applied mathematician until 1972, when he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives' 23rd District, which includes portions of Allegheny County.

Political career

State House of Representatives

Itkin held a variety of leadership positions with the House's Democratic caucus. He served as

majority whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

from 1990 though 1992. He was elected majority leader in 1992, and minority whip in 1994. He was also appointed Speaker Pro Tempore during the 1987-1988 session.

Candidate for governor

Itkin ran against

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

Tom Ridge Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003, and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. ...

. He and his running mate, former

Congresswoman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky Marjorie Margolies (; formerly Margolies-Mezvinsky; born June 21, 1942) is a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, and a women's rights activist. She i ...

, lost the election with 31% of the vote.

Later career

Itkin retired from the House following his gubernatorial defeat and was subsequently appointed Director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management in the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-re ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

in 1999. He died of heart failure on April 5, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at age 84.

References

External links

PA State Archives: Ivan Itkin
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Itkin, Ivan 1936 births 2020 deaths American nuclear physicists Candidates in the 1998 United States elections 20th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Politicians from New York City Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni Scientists from New York (state)