Egan, William A.

William A. Egan was born October 8, 1914 in Valdez, Alaska, to Cora Allen Egan and William E. Egan. Egan graduated from Valdez High School and held various jobs before being elected to the Valdez City Council in 1937. He was elected to the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives from the Third Judicial Division in 1940 and wrote and introduced the first bill for a territorial referendum on statehood for Alaska the following year. Egan served for three years in the U.S. Army Infantry and Air Corps at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska, from 1943-1946. He was elected mayor of Valdez in 1946, while still serving in the military. He was reelected to the Territorial House of Representatives in 1947, 1949 and 1951, and was elected to the Territorial Senate in 1953. Egan was reelected to the Territorial Senate in 1955, and served as a delegate to and president of the Alaska Constitutional Convention, which convened in November of 1955. Egan was elected as one of Alaska's Tennessee Plan senators in 1956 and lobbied for Alaska Statehood until the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act, June 30, 1958. He was elected governor of Alaska in 1958 and relected in 1962. He was defeated for governor by Walter Hickel in 1966, but was elected for a third time in 1970. Egan was married to Neva (McKittrick) Egan and had one son, Dennis. Egan died on May 6, 1984.