Governor Mike Dunleavy and First Lady Rose Dunleavy are mourning the passing of former Alaska State Senator George Silides. The former lawmaker represented the Fort Yukon and Fairbanks regions in the 8th Session of the Alaska Legislature. He passed away February 17, 2022.
“Our family wants to express our sympathy to the family and friends of former Senator George Silides,” said Governor Dunleavy. “He was deeply committed to improving our great state as both a lawmaker and a civil engineer. He left a mark on Alaska for all of us to remember and respect.”
Mr. Silides was born June 28, 1922 in New York City. After graduating with an engineering degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1946, he moved to Alaska in 1949 and resided in the Fairbanks area.
He served in the Alaska State Senate from 1973-1974. Those were far-reaching years in Alaska’s history because the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was taking center stage. Lawmakers passed four major pieces of oil and gas legislation that provided our young state with its share of the oil revenue and readied it for the socio-economic impacts the pipeline would bring following congressional approval of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act in 1973. Mr. Silides also had a long and distinguished career as a civil engineer. The first seawall in Bethel and the planning, design and construction of the new Valdez townsite after the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake are just two examples of his exemplary engineering work.
Governor Dunleavy has ordered that Alaska and United States flags fly at half-staff between sunrise and sunset on February 28, 2022, in honor of former Senator George Silides.
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