Edward Saggan Itta (July 5, 1945 – November 6, 2016) was an American Iñupiaq politician, activist and whaling captain. Itta served as the mayor of

North Slope Borough, Alaska The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and, thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest cit ...

, the northernmost

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

in the United States, for two consecutive terms from 2005 until 2011.

Early life and education

Edward Saggan Itta was born in Utqiagvik (formerly named Barrow) in July 1945 to Noah and Mollie Itta. He grew up in a family living a traditional subsistence life of fishing and hunting for seals, walrus and whales, at camps on the tundra and sea ice. He attended

Mount Edgecumbe High School Mt. Edgecumbe High School (abbreviated MEHS) is a public boarding school, boarding high school in Sitka, Alaska, Sitka, Alaska in the United States. Located on Japonski Island, across Sitka Harbor from the northwestern corner of downtown Sitka ...

a boarding school in faraway Sitka and after graduating in 1964 trained as an electronics technician at a Cleveland school and in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

Career

Itta´s first job was in

Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay is a town located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 1,310 people, down from 2,174 residents in the 2010 census, and up from just 5 residents in 2000; however ...

as an oil field

roustabout Roustabout (Australia/New Zealand English: rouseabout) is an occupational term. Traditionally, it referred to a worker with broad-based, non-specific skills. In particular, it was used to describe show or circus workers who put up tents and boo ...

. In the 1980s, he was director of the

's Public Works department, spearheading modernization of North Slope villages water and sewer services and other amenities. From 2005 until 2011 he was Mayor of North Slope Borough, for two consecutive terms. In November 2008, he was re-elected to a second term with more than 53% of the vote. He crossed political lines to meet with all sides, but took on organizations he saw as overly supportive of industry like the

Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, or ASRC, is one of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. ASRC was incorporated in Alaska on June 22, ...

. On November 27, 2012, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

appointed Itta to the seven-member

United States Arctic Research Commission The United States Arctic Research Commission is a United States federal agency. It was established by the ''Arctic Research and Policy Act'' of 1984 (as amended, Public Law 101–609). Duties The commission's principal duties are: #to establi ...

, a federal agency which functions as the government's Arctic policy and research commission. He served on the Commission until the expiration of his term on July 29, 2015. Itta served as the President of the

Inuit Circumpolar Council The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC; formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference) is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and Indigenous Peoples' Organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit and Yupik (sometimes referred to a ...

of Alaska, President of the Barrow Whaling Captains Association, vice chairman of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, and a representative for Alaska on the

Outer Continental Shelf The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a legally defined geographic feature of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the ind ...

Policy Committee.

Personal life and death

He was married to Elsie Hopson Itta, with whom he had two children. He died after battling cancer. As of 2023 he is survived by his older sister Brenda Itta (born November 13, 1943), an Iñupiaq activist and former legislator in the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people pe ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Itta, Edward 1945 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Alaska Native people 20th-century Inuit people 21st-century Alaska Native people 21st-century Inuit people Alaska Native activists Borough assembly members in Alaska Inupiat people Inuit activists Inuit politicians Mayors of places in Alaska Native American mayors in Alaska People from Utqiagvik, Alaska