Peter Sandor Ujvagi ('' Hungarian'' Újvági Péter Sándor; 31 March 1949) is a retired Hungarian-born Democratic politician in Toledo and

Lucas County, Ohio Lucas County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is bordered to the east by Lake Erie, and to the southeast by the Maumee River, which runs to the lake. As of the 2020 census, the population was 431,279 ...

. He has been a Toledo city council member, a representative in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

, and the Lucas County administrator.

Life and career

His nickname is "Mayor of East Toledo", a part of the city with a strong

Hungarian-American Hungarian Americans ( Hungarian: ''amerikai magyarok'') are Americans of Hungarian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are approximately 1.396 million Americans of Hungarian descent as of 2018. The total number of people wit ...

and other Eastern European-descended population. Ujvagi was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary on 31 March 1949 as son of Ede and Magda Újvági. When he was 7 years old, he emigrated with his parents to the United States, after the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. He has two brothers, Ed and Charles. After a short stay in an Austrian

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

, the family arrived in Toledo, Ohio. He is a founding member and executive committee member of the Hungarian-American Coalition. He is active in the Hungarian Club of Greater Toledo, the Birmingham Cultural Center, and he is on the

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

for the Art Commission of Greater Toledo. He was a member of the American delegation to the state funeral of

Hungarian Prime Minister This article lists the prime ministers of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország miniszterelnöke, ) from when the first Prime Minister (in the modern sense), Lajos Batthyány, took office in 1848 (during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848) until the present ...

József Antall József Tihamér Antall Jr. ( hu, ifjabb Antall József Tihamér, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, holdin ...

(1993).

Politics

In the 1970s, Ujvagi began working in neighborhood development, both in Toledo and at a national level with the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs and the National Campaign for Human Development. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

appointed him to the National Commission on Neighborhoods. He was first elected to Toledo city council in 1981 and served continuously until 2002, elected first from his East Toledo district and later to an at-large seat. He was council president from 1998 to 2002. After

Teresa Fedor Teresa Fedor (born May 26, 1956) is an American politician from Ohio. She was a member of the Ohio Senate, representing the 11th district from 2019 until her resignation in 2022. A member of the Ohio General Assembly since 2001, Fedor previously ...

ran for the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

in 2002, Ujvagi ran for the vacant 47th District seat in the

, and won with 67.76% of the vote. He would win reelection in 2004 with 71.22%, again in 2006 with 73.85%, and in 2008 as an unopposed candidate. While in the legislature, Ujvagi was very influential on budgetary issues, and for a time served as Chairman of the House Finance Committee's Transportation Subcommittee. On 17 March 2010, Ujvagi resigned his seat in the Ohio House of Representatives to become the new Lucas County Administrator.''Lucas County will pay Ujvagi $105,684''
/ref> He was succeeded by Joe Walter. He later returned to Toledo city council, where he again represented East Toledo from 2016 to 2020, when he retired from politics.

Sources

Peter Ujvagi's biography

"Toledo area offered haven for refugees of crushed revolt"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ujvagi, Peter Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Hungarian emigrants to the United States University of Toledo alumni Living people 1949 births Hungarian-American culture in Ohio 21st-century American politicians People from Budapest