John Pressman

John Fallon Pressmann was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania [House of Representatives].

Biography

Early life

John Pressmann was born on September 6, 1952, in Salisbury, Maryland. His family moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from the Allentown [Central Catholic High School] as part of the class of 1971. He then attended the Lehigh County Community College before transferring to the East Stroudsburg State College and then Cedar Crest College where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science.

Political career

Pressmann was a member of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee from 1974 to 1978 and was an elected constable of Lehigh County from 1980 to 1981. Then he was elected the Lehigh County commissioner from 1982 to 1984. Pressmann would be elected to the Pennsylvania [House of Representatives] for the Pennsylvania [House of Representatives, District 132|132nd] district, serving from 1985 to 1990 when he was stunningly upset by Republican Political outsider Charlie Dent.
Pressmann attempted to stage a political comeback as the Democratic candidate for the 1993 Allentown mayoral election, however, after a particularly heated primary against city councilwoman Emma Tropiano, she ran a write in campaign splitting the Democratic vote and allowing Republican William L. Heydt to win the election with 46.9% of the vote.

Later life and death

After his defeat in the mayoral election, Presmann retired from politics and became a teacher. While on vacation hiking in the Sierra Mountains of California in 2009, Pressmann would collapse and die at the age of 57.

Personal life

Pressman was a member of the Pennsylvania Young Democrats, was a member of the Lehigh Valley Democrat Association, and chairman of the Allentown Redevelopment Authority.