Former state senator Arlis Sturgulewski dies at 94

Longtime Anchorage civic activist and trailblazing politician Arliss Sturgulewski died last Thursday, her family said. She was 94.

Raising a young son after her husband died in a plane crash, Sturgulewski became involved in Anchorage politics in the 1970s and later served as a state senator for more than a decade, shaping important institutions of modern Alaska with a collaborative, moderate approach.

In 1986 she became the first Alaska woman to head the ticket for a major political party’s gubernatorial campaign.

The moderate Republican’s campaign slogan: “Let’s just call her Governor.”

She l...