Joseph Lewis Stortini (born December 4, 1932) is an American restauranteer, educator, and politician in the state of

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. He served the 27th district from 1969 to 1977.

Early life

Stortini was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, to Giuseppe Stortini and Giuseppina Piazza, both Italian immigrants. Stortini's father immigrated from

Porto Sant'Elpidio Porto Sant'Elpidio () is a coastal town in the province of Fermo, Marche, Italy. The commune has a population of 25,071. Geography Porto Sant'Elpidio's nearly of coast once made the commune the most extensive in length in the province of Ascoli ...

Fermo Fermo (; ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest huma ...

in 1914. His mother was born in Domanico,

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

in 1909. His parents met and eventually settled in Tacoma's 5th ward, which at the time was made up of predominately southern European immigrants. During his early years in Tacoma's hilltop neighborhoods, he developed a passion for athletics. He attended

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1888. The institution offers a variety of undergraduate degrees as well as five graduate programs in counseling, education, oc ...

, where he played both football and baseball. After graduating with a degree in education, he went on to

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

, receiving a master's degree in education.

Career

Stortini started his career as a public high school teacher in the Tacoma Public School district, where he worked from 1955 to 1975. In the late 1980s, he opened the Mama Stortini's restaurant, which he later sold. In 1984, Stortini was elected Pierce County Executive. Stortini served two terms in the state Senate, two terms on the Pierce County Board of County Commissioners, and was elected twice as county executive. Stortini opened the Joeseppi's Italian restaurant in November 2005.

Affair and wrongful-death suit

Stortini's affair with his employee, Susan Webstad, was brought to light when he made a 911 call after she overdosed. A wrongful-death suit against Stortini by her estate was dismissed, with the appeals court finding that "Washington law provides no general duty to protect others from self-inflicted harm."

References

Living people 1932 births County executives in Washington (state) Pierce County Councillors University of Puget Sound alumni Oregon State University alumni Democratic Party Washington (state) state senators Educators from Washington (state) Politicians from Tacoma, Washington American people of Italian descent 20th-century members of the Washington State Legislature {{Washington-WASenate-stub