Remove ads
Dolores Mary Mertz (née Shay; May 30, 1928 – October 18, 2022) was an American politician from Iowa.
Dolores Mertz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Iowa House of Representatives from the 8th district 15th (1989–2003)[1] | |
| In office January 1989 – January 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Marcella Frevert |
| Succeeded by | Tom W. Shaw[2] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dolores Mary Shay May 30, 1928 Bancroft, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | October 18, 2022 (aged 94) West Bend, Iowa, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
Born in Bancroft, Iowa to John and Gertrude (née Erickson) Shay, she earned her AA from Briar Cliff College (now Briar Cliff University).[3] She married Pete Mertz in 1951, and following his death in 1983, she was appointed to the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors to fill the remainder of his term.[4]
She served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1989 through 2011, representing the 15th district from 1989 to 2003 and the 8th district from 2003 to 2011.[3] Mertz served on several committees in the Iowa House – the Judiciary committee; the Natural Resources committee; the Transportation committee; and the Agriculture committee, where she is chair. She also serves on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee. Her political experience includes twenty-five years as Democrat precinct leader and 13 years on the Kossuth County Central Committee.[3] Mertz was re-elected in 2006 with 8,142 votes, running unopposed.
She also served as co-chairperson on the board of directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a national association of legislators.[5] In 2012, Governor Terry Branstad appointed Mertz to serve on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.[6]
Mertz died on October 18, 2022, at West Bend Health and Rehabilitation in West Bend, Iowa.[6][4]
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads