lobbyist for the public relations firm Gallatin Public Affairs. Despite limited mobility in her declining years, Katz would remain with the firm until her retirement in 2012. Death and legacy Katz died peacefully in her sleep around 4 am on December 11, 2017, in Portland one week after being diagnosed with leukemia. She was 84 years old at the time of her death. Katz was survived by her son, Jesse Katz, a Los Angeles journalist; her grandson Max Katz; her former husband, Mel Katz; and her elder sister, Zena Linden. At the time of her death, Katz was eulogized in an editorial in the Portland Oregonian, which declared: During her three terms as mayor from 1992 to 2004, Katz altered the shape, look and dynamism of the city, helping to put it right up there with Brooklyn as a magnet for young people. She worked night and day on Portland, as feverishly if she were touching up her personal masterpiece and, in many ways, she was. Katz was remembered as a detail-oriented and energetic public servant. She was instrumental in the development of a multi-use pathway, now known as the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, a river walk 30 feet above the Willamette River which runs from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Steel Bridge and is part of the Portland Parks system. The Esplanade, construction of which was completed in May 2001, was named for Katz in November 2004 in honor of her civic achievement. A bronze statue of Katz by sculptor Bill Bane was added to the project in 2006. See also Timeline of Portland, 1990s–2000s List of female speakers of legislatures in the United States References External links City of Portland profile 1933 births 2017 deaths Deaths from leukemia Deaths from cancer in Oregon Brooklyn College alumni German emigrants to the United States Jewish mayors of places in the United States Jewish women politicians Jews and Judaism in Portland, Oregon American people of Russian-Jewish descent Mayors of Portland, Oregon Politicians from Brooklyn Speakers of the Oregon House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Women mayors of places in Oregon Women state legislators in Oregon Women legislative speakers Jewish American people in Oregon politics 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women