FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 1968

From the office of
Senator Ernest Gruening
4106 New Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

ROY PERATROVICH NAMED ANCHORAGE DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT
OF BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

Senator Ernest Gruening (D-Alaska) announced today the appointment of Roy Peratrovich of Juneau, as superintendent of the Anchorage District of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

While praising Peratrovich, the senator expressed regret at the replacement of Tom Pillifant who has been area director and is retiring. "Pillifant did a superb job," Senator Gruening said. "He is a dedicated public servant and his service was deeply appreciated by the Native people, Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts in the Anchorage area. It is gratifying to know he will not be leaving Alaska, but will continue to work on behalf of Native people there."

Peratrovich has over 30 years of service with the territorial government of Alaska and with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Currently Peratrovich is in the BIA area office in Juneau where he is head of the tribal operations program in the state. He previously had served as a special officer and then as a credit and financing officer.

As superintendent of the Anchorage District, Peratrovich will have responsibility for the BIA in the South Central part of the state and the Aleutian Islands. He will assume his new duties March 3.

Born in Klawok, Peratrovich's mother was a full-blooded Tlingit Indian. He attended the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Ore., for four years and completed his high school education in Ketchikan. He became the first Alaskan to receive a United Nations fellowship under which he studied fishing industry of Nova Scotia. Peratrovich was also awarded a John Hay Whitney Scholarship in 1952 which enabled him to study banking and finance under the auspices of the University of Denver. He has also been active in the Alaska Native Brotherhood, having served five terms as grand president and now serving as a life member of the executive committee. He has three children.

"More than one member of the Peratrovich family has served Alaska with distinction," Senator Gruening said. His brother, Frank, has served in the legislature as a representative and a senator, both in the territorial as well as statehood days. Frank was president of the territorial senate before Alaska became a state and succeeded to the presidency of the Senate after the death of the first Senate President William Beltz. He was also first vice president of the Alaska Constitutional Convention.