The celebration of Frank Chopp's life and legacy was held on June 1 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue . The program features stories about strategies and practices Frank used as a community organizer, political leader, and legislator.   You can watch the program on TVW: https://tvw.org/video/frank-c…

The fight for fairness and opportunity continues, and we hope that those who attended or watch the video find something from his life that helps you step forward to care for our communities and nation. We are asking people to post a commitment to taking a "Frank Action" that continues his work for social justice in the memories section of this site.

People have asked for the audio file of Frank speaking at the end: https://drive.google.com/file…

Obituary - Frank Vana Chopp

Community Organizer, Nonprofit Leader, Legislator, and Speaker of the House

Frank Chopp dedicated his life to serving the people of Washington State. A relentless advocate for equity, opportunity, and community, his intellectual curiosity and creativity were as boundless as his energy. He woke up every day with a passion to solve problems and make people’s lives better.

Born and raised in Bremerton, Washington, Frank was the grandson of Croatian immigrants. His father began working in the Roslyn coal mines at age 12 and later became a union electrician at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. His mother served as a school cafeteria employee. She left school at 14 to work but earned her high school diploma from Green River Community College at age 65. Frank’s upbringing instilled in him a deep respect for education, public service, and the power of unions. His siblings—Mel Chopp (deceased; Ruth), Anita Robinson (Kelly), and Jo-Anne Wilson (Earl)—all became public educators.

Frank graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington in 1975 and later co-taught nonprofit management with his wife, Nancy Long, at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance from 1992 to 1995.

From an early age, Frank was engaged in social justice movements. During and after college he oppose redlining and worked to stop a freeway that would have cut through the east side of the Arboretum and many Seattle neighborhoods. He helped start the Seattle Tenants Union and the Cascade Shelter Project, living in a geodesic dome in a rented parking stall to bring attention to the need for affordable housing in the area.

He served as the managing director of the Pike Market Senior Center, as the manager of the “little city hall” in Fremont, and, for 43 years as the executive director and then senior advisor of the Fremont Public Association (later Solid Ground). He expanded the services the organization offered to include food, home care, legal services, transportation, arts, employment, and housing services, including Broadview emergency shelter for domestic violence survivors.

Frank and his wife, Nancy Long, met at a Seattle City Council hearing in 1982 and were both active with a coalition of North End health clinics and human service providers. They married in 1984 and shared a life focused on family and community service.

Among Frank’s many achievements during this time as a community organizer and nonprofit leader, three stand out as especially enduring:

• Seattle Housing Levy (1986): Frank led a coalition of advocates to pass the levy, which has since generated over $2 billion for affordable housing. He called it the “Bread and Roses” campaign, partnering with the art museum to ensure both housing and culture were approved by the voters.

• Low Income Housing Institute (1991): Co-founded LIHI with Michael Reichert of Catholic Community Services and Scott Morrow (SHARE). Sharon Lee was appointed executive director. She has grown LIHI to over 3,800 housing units, with more than 72% dedicated to formerly homeless individuals.

• Magnuson Park Housing (1988–2025): Frank championed the inclusion of low-income housing at the federally deeded site for nearly 4 decades, transforming it into a model of inclusive community development and providing an idyllic living location to thousands of people.

He also co-founded the Economic Opportunity Institute, supported union organizing for office workers, home care workers, and public transit drivers, and created and participated with many projects and groups, including the Coalition for Survival Services, Food Resources Network, Workers Center, Lettuce Link, Community Voice Mail, and PortJOBS.

Frank was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 1994 when the Democrats were deeply in the minority. Frank served Seattle’s 43rd Legislative District for 30 years. As the Democrats gained members, he became Co-Speaker of the House in 1999 and Speaker in 2001, a role he held for a historic 18 years before stepping down as Speaker in 2019. He completed his final term in 2025.

He changed the trajectory of many peoples’ lives. As a legislator he focused on common sense solutions that improved access to health care and mental health services, expanded childcare, enhanced economic security, provided pathways to higher education, and expanded access to shelter, permanent affordable housing and home ownership.

Frank’s legislative philosophy was guided by the principle of “One Washington”—ensuring that all communities, urban and rural, benefited from legislative action. His collaborative style, strategic funding solutions, and memorable program names (such as Apple Health for Kids) helped him build broad coalitions for change.

Throughout his legislative career, he prioritized access to healthcare, mental health services, childcare, economic opportunity, education, and affordable housing. His legislative accomplishments include:

• An inflation-adjusted minimum wage

• Paid Family and Medical Leave

• Marriage Equality

• The Dream Act

• The Voting Rights Act

• The Long-Term Care Trust Act

• The Education Legacy Trust Fund

• The College Bound Scholarship Program

• Apple Health for Kids

Tens of thousands of low and moderate-income people have roofs over their heads today because of Frank. Throughout his career he advocated for affordable housing owned by the public or nonprofits so it would be permanently available to support low-income people. These are some of the programs he created or helped pass into law:

• Co-founded the Housing Trust Fund in 1987 which has provided more than $2 billion in funding that built or helped preserve nearly 60,000 housing units.

• Created a dedicated funding stream for homelessness services through the state’s document recording fee, which is paid when real estate deeds or other paperwork is filed.

• Helped create the innovative Apple Health and Homes initiative, which uses Medicaid dollars to fund housing and other services for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

• Conceived and helped pass the Covenant Homeownership Program which provides downpayment and closing cost assistance (paid back when the home is sold or refinanced) for qualified first-time homebuyers whose family experienced housing discrimination in Washington state.

• Developed the ‘Home and Hope’ program, with Tony Yuchasz and Enterprise Community Partners. This program identifies unused publicly owned properties for affordable housing and provides technical assistance to nonprofit service providers and nonprofit or public developers. It has helped create 9000 thousand units of housing, 135 early learning classrooms, and 45 community facilities.

He had clear and ambitious goals, but he was willing to compromise and build toward them over time to ensure that improvements did not get reversed through the initiative process or to give people time to understand the problem and see the results.

Throughout his career, Frank built deep and lasting relationships with hundreds of people he worked alongside, inspired by a shared commitment to justice and compassion. He mentored, encouraged, and inspired a highly diverse cadre of young professionals to develop careers in public service and social action.

His family, including his wife, Nancy Long, his son Narayan Long (Kate), and daughter Ellie Chopp (Kirby Snyder) are deeply grateful to all these colleagues who he learned from and relied upon to help produce the exceptional results of his life.

Frank died suddenly on March 22, 2025, as a result of coronary artery disease.

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