Byron Mallott

Byron Ivar Mallott (April 6, 1943 – May 8, 2020) was an American politician, elder,

Mallott was born on April 6, 1943, in Yakutat in the Territory of Alaska, to Jay B. Mallott and Emma M. Brown.^[5] Mallott was an Alaskan Native of the Tlingit tribe.^[6] His Tlingit name was Dux̱ da neiḵ, K'oo del ta', which means "'a person who would lead us into the future'".^[7] Mallott's father established a general store in a spare room of the family home in 1946. Mallott spent most of his childhood living in Yakutat.^[8]

At age 13, Mallott began attending Pius X Mission, a Catholic boarding school located in Skagway, Alaska.^[9] He graduated from Sheldon Jackson High School and studied for several years at Western Washington State College in Bellingham, Washington.^[10]

Career

Mallott's political career began in 1965 when his father, who served as Yakutat's mayor for the vast majority of the position's existence, died.

After Egan was defeated for re-election by

In 1968, Mallott received the Democratic nomination for the 5th district in the Alaska House of Representatives. In the general election he was narrowly defeated by Henry E. Reeves by twenty-three votes.^[14] Mallott posted the $250 for a recount, but the vote total remained the same.^[15] In 1969, Senator Mike Gravel appointed him to serve as a special assistant.^[16]

Mallott became chairman of Alaska's Reapportionment Board. On September 5, 1980, he resigned from the board for personal reasons.^[17]

In 1982, Mallott was appointed to the board of trustees of the

Incumbent mayor Jamie Parsons declined to seek re-election in 1994 after one term in office.^[21] On August 16, 1994, Mallott announced that he would run in Juneau's mayoral election.^[22] He was elected mayor of Juneau in that municipality's 1994 general election. He resigned from office after he was selected to serve as the executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.^[20] Mallott faced harsh criticism when he initially announced that he could handle serving in both positions, leading to changing his mind and resigning the mayoral position. Mallott was succeeded as mayor by deputy mayor Dennis Egan.^[23]

Lieutenant Governor of Alaska

2014 election

Mallott announced on September 2, 2013 that he was running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Alaska in the 2014 election.^[24] He won the Democratic gubernatorial primary with 80% of the vote on August 19, 2014.^[4]

Independent candidate Bill Walker and Mallott merged their campaigns on September 2 to appear on the November ballot as one independent campaign, which the Alaska Democratic Party endorsed. On this ticket, Walker ran for governor with Mallott as his running mate. Both candidates' respective prior running mates withdrew.^[25] They won the election on November 4, 2014, as there was a recount due to a close election result.^[26]

2018 election

In 2017, Walker and Mallott registered to run for re-election on an

Mallott signed state marijuana regulations into effect in January 2016.[28] In 2016, Raven Radio reported that Mallott had logged 280,000 Alaska Air Miles in the first two years of his tenure as lieutenant governor.^[29]

Mallott resigned his post as lieutenant governor on October 16, 2018, citing "inappropriate comments" that he had made to a woman whom Governor Walker refused to name. He was succeeded as lieutenant governor by Valerie Davidson, the former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.^[30]

Business career

In 1972, Mallott became a member of the newly formed Sealaska Corporation and was elected director. He served as chairman of the board from 1976 to 1983. In 1982, he was selected to serve as the CEO and kept his position until retirement on July 1, 1992.^[31][32] He also established a permanent fund for Sealaska shareholders. The fund had grown to a net worth of $100 million by the late 1990s.^[33] Mallott served on the board of Sealaska until 2014.^[9]

Mallott was also a founding director of the Alaska Commercial Fisheries and Agriculture Bank. He was also a director of the Seattle branch board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and he served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He served as a director of Alaska Air Group and on the board of the National Alliance of Business.^[12]

Mallott was a clan leader of the KwaashKiKwaan clan of the Raven tribe of Yakutat.^[12][9] He served as President of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN)^[12] and received a "Citizen of the Year" award from AFN.^[33] Mallott served as president and CEO of the First Alaskans Foundation.^[12]

Mallott was appointed by Governor

Mallott suffered a heart attack at his home in Juneau on May 7, 2020, and was flown by a medical charter to Anchorage, where he died the following day at the age of 77.^[34][35]

Electoral history

See also

• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

References