John Butrovich Jr. (March 22, 1910 – June 3, 1997) was an American businessman and politician from

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., ...

. He was a member of the Republican Party, and was that party's nominee in the 1958 gubernatorial election.

Life & career

Born in a mining camp near

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

to a

Croatian American Croatian Americans or Croat Americans ( hr, Američki Hrvati) are Americans who have full or partial Croatian ancestry. In 2012, there were 414,714 American citizens of Croat or Croatian descent living in the United States as per revised 2010 Un ...

family, Butrovich graduated from Fairbanks High School in 1929. He then went to

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

. He returned to Fairbanks and was in the insurance business. He married Grace Butrovich in 1936, and they had 1 daughter together. From 1944 to 1958, Butrovich served in the Alaska Territorial Senate and was a

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 ...

. He was the speaker of the delegation sent to President

Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

to convince him to sign the statehood bill. In 1958, Butrovich ran in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

for

Governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

and lost the election to

Bill Egan William Allen Egan (October 8, 1914 – May 6, 1984) was an American Democratic politician. He served as the first governor of the State of Alaska from January 3, 1959 to 1966 and 1970 to 1974, as well as a shadow U.S. Senator from Alaska Terri ...

, 59.6% to 39.4%. From 1963 to 1979, Butrovich served in the

Alaska State Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gube ...

. He was named Alaskan of the Year in 1980, and awarded an honorary degree by the University of Alaska. The Butrovich Building, a building on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus which runs the University of Alaska's statewide administration, is named after him.

Death

Butrovich died at his home in Fairbanks, Alaska after a battle with a long illness. He was 87.

Notes

1910 births 1997 deaths Republican Party Alaska state senators American businesspeople in insurance American people of Montenegrin descent Businesspeople from Fairbanks, Alaska Insurance agents Members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature Politicians from Fairbanks, Alaska University of Alaska people Washington State University alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American businesspeople {{Alaska-politician-stub