Dan Ryan (born June 21, 1962) is an American non-profit executive and politician who is a member of the Portland City Council from District 2. Ryan was elected in a

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

special election to succeed

Nick Fish Nicholas Stuyvesant Fish (September 30, 1958 – January 2, 2020) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a Commissioner of Portland, Oregon from 2008 to 2020. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Fish worked with Portland P ...

, who died of stomach cancer on January 2, 2020. Ryan was re-elected in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Ryan is the third

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

person elected as a commissioner of Portland, and the first to have been diagnosed with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

Early life and education

Ryan was born in

North Portland, Oregon North Portland is one of the six sextants of Portland, Oregon. North Portland is a diverse mixture of residential, commercial, and industrial areas. It includes the Portland International Raceway, the University of Portland, and massive cargo faci ...

, the youngest of eight children. Ryan was the first in his family to graduate from college. Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

and took graduate courses at

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

Career

Prior to announcing his candidacy for Portland City Council, Ryan worked as an administrator at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

, where he managed the school's first

capital campaign Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

. Ryan served as a member of the Portland School Board from 2005 to 2008, and was the CEO of All Hands Raised, an education non-profit, from 2008 to 2019.

Portland City Council

In early 2020, Commissioner

died of stomach cancer. Ryan announced his campaign to run for the upcoming special election. He faced 17 other candidates. As the top two candidates, Ryan and former County Commissioner Loretta Smith advanced to a runoff as neither received over 50 percent of the vote. In the November runoff, Ryan prevailed with 51.2 percent of the vote. Upon his election, Ryan called for an end to the 2020 Portland protests and committed to establishing a "peace summit" between local politicians and activists. Ryan assumed office on September 9, 2020. Ryan became notable for his "safe rest village" program that involved large sites for sanctioned homeless camping. As Commissioner, Ryan oversaw

Portland Parks & Recreation Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails; properties that occupy more than in total. The bureau employs a total of 4,36 ...

, the Children's Levy, and the Portland Office of Arts & Culture, among other bureaus. He formalized the Portland Park Rangers as first responders, and established Portland's first

World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired immu ...

Proclamation. After Portland voted to restructure it's government from a city commission for of government to a mayor-council system in 2022, Ryan was the only incumbent Commissioner to seek re-election to the new City Council in the 2024 election.

Personal life

While living in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1986, Ryan was diagnosed with

. In 1996, Ryan was diagnosed with

pneumocystis The Pneumocystidomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi. It includes the single order Pneumocystidales, which contains the single monotypic family Pneumocystidaceae, which in turn contains the genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank ...

and was given between six months and a year to live. He then returned from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, where he was living at the time, to his hometown of

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, expecting to die soon. Ryan is openly gay.

References

External links