Boosalis, Helen, 1919-2009

Helen G. Boosalis (August 28, 1919 - June 15, 2009) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, the first woman to hold the position.

Born Helen Geankoplis in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she grew up working in her father's Minneapolis restaurant. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities with a B.A. degree, she married and eventually moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where her husband had accepted a job at the University of Nebraska. In 1959 Boosalis was elected to the Lincoln City Council, scoring an upset victory over an incumbent, and was subsequently reelected three times. She won another upset victory over incumbent Sam Schwartzkopf to become the city's first woman mayor in 1975. From 1981 to 1982, she served as the first female President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Shortly after completing her tenure as Mayor in 1983, Boosalis was appointed as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aging in the Cabinet of then-Governor Bob Kerrey, she served in that post until she announced her candidacy for Governor of Nebraska in the 1986 election. Though she won the Democratic primary, Boosalis went on to lose to the Republican candidate, State Treasurer Kay A. Orr in the general election.This election was the first state gubernatorial election in U.S. history where the candidates of both major national parties were women.

Following her electoral defeat, Boosalis was an active member of several state and national organizations, most notably serving as Chairwoman of Board of Directors of the American Association of Retired Persons. She died from a brain tumor in Lincoln.