Marcy Kaptur (born June 17, 1946) is a Polish-American politician of the Democratic Party, who is a U.S. Representative for the ninth congressional district of Ohio. Kaptur was born in Toledo, Ohio and graduated from St. Ursula Academy in Toledo in 1964. She received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin) in 1968 and a master of arts degree from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan) in 1974. She attended the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom in 1974 and did post-graduate study in urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in 1981.
Kaptur served on the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions from 1969 to 1975 and was director of planning for the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs from 1975 to 1977.
From 1977 to 1979, Kaptur served in the Carter administration as a domestic policy advisor.
Kaptur was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and began serving in 1983 (98th Congress). Following the 2002 elections, she made a short-lived bid to become House Minority Leader.
It was one of her constituents, Roger Durbin, who first suggested in 1987 the creation of a World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.. Kaptur spearheaded the project and the memorial opened in 2004.
Kaptur represented Ohio as a delegate to the 2000 Democratic National Convention and 2004 Democratic National Convention. She is thought of to be one of the most progressive members of Congress.
