Nick L. Salazar (April 18, 1929 – October 23, 2020) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the

New Mexico House of Representatives ) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico. The most recent elections were held on November 3, 2020. Composition Leadership Cu ...

, representing the 40th District from 1974 to 2019.

Early life and education

Born in

San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico Ohkay Owingeh (Tewa: Ohkwee Ówîngeh ), known by its Spanish name as San Juan de los Caballeros from 1589 to 2005, is a pueblo and census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Ohkay Owingeh is also a federally recognized tribe ...

, Salazar attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

. He served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, attaining the rank of sergeant.

Career

Salazar served as a county commissioner from 1964 to 1968. From 1974 to 2019, he served as a member of the

for the 40th district. As House members are only paid

per diem ''Per diem'' (Latin for "per day" or "for each day") or daily allowance is a specific amount of money that an organization gives an individual, typically an employee, per day to cover living expenses when travelling on the employer's business. A '' ...

, Salazar worked as a mechanical technician at the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

. In 2013, Salazar was presented with a lifetime achievement award from Los Alamos National Security for his contributions to the organizations in research. Salazar is also one of the longest served state representatives in the history

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

Personal life

Salazar resided in

Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico Ohkay Owingeh (Tewa: Ohkwee Ówîngeh ), known by its Spanish name as San Juan de los Caballeros from 1589 to 2005, is a pueblo and census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Ohkay Owingeh is also a federally recognized tribe ...

. He and his wife had three children. He died in

Española, New Mexico Española is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. A portion of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Founded as a railroad village some distance from the old Indian town of San Juan de lo ...

on October 23, 2020, at the age of 91.

References

External links

Representative Nick L. Salazar
at the NM House website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Nick L. Salazar (NM)
profile 1929 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American politicians County commissioners in New Mexico Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New Mexico Democratic Party members of the New Mexico House of Representatives Military personnel from New Mexico Native American state legislators in New Mexico People from Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico University of California, Santa Barbara alumni {{NewMexico-politician-stub