Oregon governor during ’80s recession

PORTLAND, Ore. — Vic Atiyeh, Oregon’s last Republican governor who shepherded the state through a deep recession during two terms in the 1980s, died Sunday night, a family spokesman said.

The 91-year-old former governor died at Portland’s Providence St. Vincent Medical Center of complications from renal failure, said Denny Miles, who had formerly served as Atiyeh’s press secretary.

He said Atiyeh was at home but had returned to the hospital Saturday because of shortness of breath and possible internal bleeding.

The son of a Syrian immigrant, Atiyeh turned down an offer to play for the Green Bay Packers and took over his family’s rug business. He entered politics in the Oregon Legislature, then ran for governor and won on a platform of cutting taxes.

He wound up raising taxes because of the recession but was remembered for cutting his own salary as governor three times to help balance the budget.

Atiyeh, a mainstream Republican who championed small state government and allowing citizens to be “left alone,” lost his first run for governor in 1974 to Democrat Bob Straub. He challenged Straub again four years later and won, taking office in 1979 as Oregon underwent what was then its most severe recession since the Great Depression.

Atiyeh married high school sweetheart Dolores in 1944. The couple had a daughter, Suzanne, and son, Thomas. They later raised several foster children.