Loren Leman

He and his wife Carolyn raised three children; Rachel, Joseph, and Nicole. Their younger daughter, Nicole, died in a hiking accident in New Zealand in December 2015.

There was speculation Leman might run for governor in 2006, either challenging Frank Murkowski in the primary or running for an open seat if Murkowski retired. Leman planned an announcement in February 2006, but postponed the news to talk more with his family about the decision. In late May 2006, Murkowski announced his plans to run for reelection. A few days later, Leman declined a run for the office (saying Murkowski's decision was only one of many factors) and also opted out of a second term as lieutenant governor. Republican Sean Parnell succeeded Leman.

In November 2002, Leman became the first person of Alaska Native ancestry to be elected to statewide office when he won the position of Alaska's eighth lieutenant governor. In the fall of 2002 Leman had campaigned to win the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. His opponents were Gail Phillips, State Representative from Homer; Robin Taylor, State Senator from Wrangell; and Sarah Palin, who had been a mayor of Wasilla. Leman won. Palin was a close second, within 2,000 votes. She later ran for Vice President on a ticket with Senator John McCain for president.

As lieutenant governor, Leman continued his interests in budget discipline, education accountability, promoting wise use of Alaska's natural resources, and supporting the right to life. Leman was an advocate for fiscal responsibility through adopting and following a five-year plan to reduce State spending by $250 million. A social conservative, he led efforts to require parental notification for girls seeking to have abortions and was a prime sponsor of a 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

In 1992 he was elected to represent northwest Anchorage in the State Senate, serving from January 1993 to December 2002. In addition to other assignments, he chaired the Senate State Affairs, Labor & Commerce and Resources committees, and served on its Finance Committee. In his last term, he was elected as Senate Majority Leader.

Loren Leman has long maintained an avid interest in transportation improvements in Alaska. He has managed projects to improve airports, was an early supporter of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation's launch facilities on Kodiak, served on the Board of Directors of the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, and as the national chairman of the Aerospace States Association, an organization of lieutenant governors and governor-appointed delegates from space ports and academia who advise Congress on aviation and space issues. He was a sponsor of legislation to enable the Alaska Railroad to complete a track realignment and improvement project from Ship Creek to Wasilla. He has championed road, port and harbor, and building improvements and served on the Legislature's Deferred Maintenance Task Force in the mid-1990s, identifying more than $1.4 billion in infrastructure improvement needs.

Leman joined the Republican Party in Alaska and became politically active. He was elected in 1988 to the Alaska state house, representing west Anchorage and serving until 1993. He was known as a social conservative, pro-development, pro-business, environmentally-conscious, a supporter of Alaska's military and taxpayer-friendly.

He graduated from Ninilchik High School in 1968. He received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Oregon State University in 1972 and master's degree in civil/environmental engineering from Stanford University in 1973.

Leman was born in Pomona, California, and grew up in Ninilchik, Alaska, in a Russian-speaking family of Alutiiq and Russian-Polish ancestry. They were commercial fishermen. He watched his father operate a fish trap during Territorial days, before this fishing method was outlawed by referendum in 1959.

Loren Dwight Leman (born December 2, 1950) is an American politician who served as lieutenant governor of Alaska, from 2002 to 2006. Before that, he served in both houses of the state legislature, and was elected as the Senate Majority Leader by the end of his term. He served in office in electoral politics from 1989 to 2006. When Leman was elected as lieutenant governor in 2002, he was the first person of Alaska Native ancestry to be elected to statewide office in Alaska. He also has Russian-Polish ancestry.

He subsequently has worked the family salmon setnet operation on Cook Inlet near Ninilchik. He longlined for halibut in Cook Inlet and harvested herring roe on kelp in Prince William Sound. Leman traces his long family history in Alaska to the marriage in Kodiak in 1798 between a Russian shipbuilder and an Alutiiq woman from Afognak.