Antonina P. Uccello ( in Italian, and in English) (May 19, 1922March 14, 2023), was a second generation, Italian-American politician who was

Mayor of Hartford, Connecticut The following table lists the individuals who served as mayor of Hartford, Connecticut, their political party affiliations, and their dates in office, as well as other information.Kevin FloodMayors of Hartford HartfordHistory.net (retrieved Apri ...

, from 1967 to 1971.

Life

Uccello was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, on May 19, 1922, to parents who had emigrated from the town of Canicattini Bagni,

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. She was the second born of five sisters. She graduated from University of St. Joseph, and pursued graduate studies in law at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

and

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Career

Ann Uccello, started working as a teacher in 1944, and in 1946 went to work for the department store G. Fox & Co., Hartford, Connecticut. There she rose to the rank of executive assistant to the owner. In 1963 she approached her boss and said she would like to run for the Hartford City Council. Since the council met on Mondays, a day the department store was closed, her boss gave her permission to run.

Political career

She won and served two terms on the council before being elected mayor in 1967. When she was elected the mayor of Hartford in 1967, she also became the first woman to be elected a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. She ran as a Republican in a mainly Democratic city, and remains the city's last Republican mayor to date. She was re-elected as mayor in 1969, and was subsequently asked by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

to go to

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

to work in the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

, where she subsequently worked during the successive administrations of Presidents

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

and

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

Later life and death

After returning to private life in 1978, she remained involved in serving the community. She became board member or trustee of several private and public organizations. She also worked in the insurance business of a family member. Uccello

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in May 2022, and died on March 12, 2023, of natural causes.

Honours

In 1971 Uccello was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed Cavaliere della Repubblica by the Italian ambassador in the USA. Ann_Uccello_Street_sign_Italy

She was inducted into the

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The CWHF had its beginnings in 1993 when a group of volunteers part ...

in 1999. Ann Street in Hartford, originally named for Ann Sheldon Goodwin in 1815, was renamed Ann Uccello Street in her honor in September 2008. Another street, in the town where her parents were from, Canicattini Bagni, Italy, was named after her in July 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uccello, Ann 1922 births 2023 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Connecticut Women mayors of places in Connecticut Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut Mayors of Hartford, Connecticut Connecticut Republicans Nixon administration personnel Ford administration personnel Carter administration personnel United States Department of Transportation officials Connecticut city council members Women city councillors in Connecticut 20th-century American women politicians American women centenarians American people of Italian descent