Background
George Vaara was born May 26, 1899 in Ada, Minnesota.
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George Vaara
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Career
He moved to Anchorage in 1923 and worked as a clerk in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. In the 1930s, he opened a notions store called Vaara Varieties. Vaara was elected mayor in 1940 in the midst of a housing shortage brought on by the arrival of military personnel preceding the construction of Fort Richardson.
He served a single term.
Vaara built a Pepsi-Cola plant on Fifth Avenue in 1943, selling it fifteen years later. In 1958, Vaara made a bid for nomination as the Republican candidate for Governor of the new state of Alaska.
He withdrew several days later, citing a "heated controversy" between factions of the party. Vaara moved to Seattle, Washington in 1960.
He died at his home in Seattle on July 26, 1976, following a year of incapacitation due to a stroke.
