Tacoma council member Catherine Ushaka dies

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(City of Tacoma)

TACOMA, Wash. - Tacoma City Council member Catherine Ushka has died, the city announced on Thursday.

Ushka was elected to the District 4 seat of the Tacoma City Council in 2017. Following her re-election to another four-year term on the City Council, she was appointed to serve as Deputy Mayor in 2022.

The Tacoma News Tribune reported Ushka died on Wednesday at age 55. In 2022, she announced that she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer.

Ushka, who represented District 4, served in the U.S. Navy Reserve, deploying after September 11, 2001. She also served eight years – including three years as president – on the Tacoma Public Schools Board of Directors, and held many other community leadership roles prior to beginning her first term on the City Council in 2017.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Council Member Catherine Ushka," said Mayor Victoria Woodards. "She will be remembered by many for her works seen and unseen. Here in Tacoma, she will be especially remembered for her fierce advocacy for the Eastside and South End, her willingness to stand for those whose voices are so often left out, and putting her hands in the dirt as well as rising to the highest levels of policy to make lasting change."

She is survived by her daughter Amelia, son Gus, father Mike, brother David and partner Marty.