Marite Ozers (born Mārīte Ozere; April 9, 1944) is an American model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1963. Ozers was born in Riga, Latvia and immigrated with her family to

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s amidst

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. Her father was Maksis Ozers, while she had an elder sister Spulga, elder brother Alnis, and six younger siblings. Ozers began competing in pageantry in order to earn money for university, later winning Miss Illinois USA 1963. As Miss Illinois USA, she was crowned Miss USA 1963, becoming the first naturalized citizen to win the title. She later represented the United States at

Miss Universe 1963 Miss Universe 1963 was the 12th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States on 20 July 1963. At the end of the event, Norma Nolan of Argentina crowned Iêda Maria Vargas of Brazil as Miss Uni ...

, where she placed in the Top 15. In a 2011 interview, Ozers revealed that she had initially planned to compete in

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

, but felt discouraged from doing so due to her naturalized status and Latvian origin. She instead opted to compete for Miss USA because of its connection to

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, where she felt a candidate with an international background would be more easily accepted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozers, Marite 1944 births American beauty pageant winners Latvian emigrants to the United States Latvian World War II refugees Living people Miss Universe 1963 contestants Miss USA 1960s delegates Miss USA winners Naturalized citizens of the United States Models from Chicago