Thomas A. Fink (August 26, 1928 – June 4, 2021) was an American

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 ...

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

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

from 1987 to 1994 and Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975. He was also a member of the

Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is an independent agency of the United States government by the Federal Employees Retirement System Act of 1986. It has roughly 270 employees. It was established to administer the Thrift Savings Plan ...

, serving from 1997 to 2010.

Personal life

Fink was born in Peoria, Illinois. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

from

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

in 1950, and a J.D. from the University of Illinois Law School in 1952. He moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1952, and has worked as a life insurance salesman since 1958. He received his Chartered Life Underwriter certification from American College in 1963. Fink was in partnership with Don Schroer for 20 years,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

The Schroer-Fink Agency. Schroer was also often involved in Fink's various campaigns for office. He died on June 4, 2021, at the age of 92.

Political career

Fink was elected to the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

in 1966, and became

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

in 1973. In 1975, he resigned in protest of a new law that would have required him to release a list of his insurance clients. Fink mounted an unsuccessful bid to succeed term-limited Republican Governor of Alaska

Jay Hammond Jay Sterner Hammond (July 21, 1922 – August 2, 2005) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982. Hammond was born in Troy, New York and served as a Marine Corps fighter pil ...

in 1982. He ran on a platform promoting the relocation of the state capital from

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

, but was defeated by

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Bill Sheffield. In 1986, Fink was elected

in the wake of a dramatic drop in the price of oil, which devastated the local economy. During his term in office, he advocated the sale of ATU, the municipal telephone utility. He received national attention for his stance on gay rights when he vetoed a 1993 municipal ordinance that would protect city employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The same year, he called for the cancellation of funding for a local theater group that included works with homosexual themes in their repertoire."Pomo Afro Homos in Anchorage."
Retrieved March 22, 2007. In both cases, he was overridden by the

Anchorage Assembly The Anchorage Assembly is the governing body of Anchorage, Alaska. The Assembly has eleven members elected to three-year terms from six districts. It is responsible for creating and approving the city's annual budget, appropriating municipal fun ...

. In 1997, after sitting out one term, Fink returned to politics to mount an unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Republican mayor Rick Mystrom.

References

External links

Alaska's Digital Archives
Tom Fink's 1970 campaign photo

Tom Fink
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Tom 1928 births 2021 deaths Bradley University alumni Businesspeople from Alaska Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board Insurance underwriters Mayors of Anchorage, Alaska Politicians from Peoria, Illinois Speakers of the Alaska House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives University of Illinois College of Law alumni 20th-century American politicians