Marcy Kaptur's story

Marcy Kaptur was born in Toledo on June 17, 1946. With her 2022 re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, Kaptur made history as the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Congress. Redrawn over the years, Kaptur’s district encompasses parts of Toledo and Northwest Ohio.

Kaptur’s parents were children of Polish immigrants. Her mother, Anastasia, served on the original organizing committee of U.A.W. Local 12 at Champion Spark Plug in Toledo. Her father, Stephen, was a produce dealer. Together they opened Supreme Market in Rossford, where Kaptur worked stocking shelves and cleaning the meat block.

Kaptur was the first member of her family to graduate high school and college. She recalls a photo taken in front of the U.S. Capitol during a trip to Washington, D.C. organized by the sisters at St. Ursula Academy, her all-girls high school. “I never, ever thought that some day I would be in Congress,” Kaptur reflects.

After being denied admission to Notre Dame and the U.S. Air Force Academy based on her sex, Kaptur attended the University of Wisconsin on a scholarship, majoring in history. She recounts tear gas being deployed during anti-war student protests there. Kaptur graduated in 1968 and took a job with the Toledo Lucas County Plan Commission. In 1974 she earned her Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Michigan and was subsequently hired by the National Center of Urban Ethnic Affairs. As Director of Planning, Kaptur worked to redevelop neighborhoods in cities including Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.

In 1977 Kaptur became Assistant Director of Urban Affairs in the Carter White House, where she worked closely with Monsignor Geno Baroni, an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She worked to develop a program to strengthen neighborhood development organizations. After leaving the Carter White House in 1979, Kaptur began a Ph.D. in urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.).