Mike Dmitrich, long-time legislative icon, dies at 87 (2025)

A fixture for 40 years in the Utah Legislature, former Representative and Senator Mike Dmitrich died on Monday just three weeks shy of his 88th birthday. He served 22 years in the Utah House, including seven years as House Minority Leader, then 18 years in the Utah Senate, where he also served seven years as the Senate Minority Leader.

Dmitrich was born in Murray, Utah, but moved to Price after the sixth grade. He met and married his sweetheart Georgia (Bo) in the Greek Orthodox Church Valentine’s Day, 1958. Both his father and grandfather were killed in mine accidents and he also spent time as a coal miner, then went into banking and then government affairs, according to a 2015 interview he did with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining. He was first elected in 1968 to represent the people in the area in and around Carbon and Emery counties. He championed blue-collar workers and those often “forgotten and disenfranchised,” according to Democrats in today’s Utah Senate.

Current Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla remembers that Senator Dmitrich was one of the first people she met at the start of her career in public service. “He taught me invaluable skills,” she said, “especially the art of negotiation and collaboration across party lines — both essential to creating good public policy.” He was the last Democrat to win a Senate district south of Salt Lake County.

Political leaders paid tribute to Dmitrich as news of his death spread.

Gov. Spencer Cox called him a “true public servant” who “fought tirelessly for the people of eastern and southern Utah.”

Former Rep. Lorie Fowlke served with Dmitrich for six years, before he retired from elected service in 2008. She remembers him as a “gentleman and a gentle man.” He loved the idea that she had been the first female police officer in Santa Barbara and would tell anyone around whenever they were together. “I think of him fondly as a gentle giant who cared about people, especially the ones in SE Utah,” she said on his obituary page.

Former Senate President John Valentine wrote that “Mike was a class act. We served together for 26 years, in both the Utah House of Representatives and in the Senate. He was “my” minority leader in the Senate when I was the President of the Senate. The political world could take a lesson of how to govern from the way he conducted himself. We would disagree, but were able to find common ground where we could agree and it resulted in better policy and legislation.”

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my colleague and friend, former Utah State Senator Mike Dmitrich,” said former Senate Minority Leader Scott Howell. “Mike had an incredible ability to negotiate policy in a way that made everyone feel like they’d won, a rare and invaluable skill in politics. On a personal note, Mike was always there for me when I was elected Minority Leader of the Senate, mentoring me to be a better politician and helping me keep the unpredictable world of politics in perspective. His contagious laugh lightened even the most difficult moments on Capitol Hill, and I will always remember him with great fondness and gratitude.”

Long-time Deseret News reporter Amy Joi O’Donoghue remembers Dmitrich as “kind, patient, jovial and always had time for a question” when she began covering the Legislature. “He did believe in the underserved and fought hard for rural communities. I have missed his laughter and candor,” she said.

I remember him the same way. When I first started going to the Utah Capitol in 2001 and was more than a little nervous to talk to legislators, Mike was one of the few who made me feel like my voice mattered. All these years later, his kindness still sticks out to me.

In 2009, the Utah Legislature renamed a portion of Highway 6 in Carbon County the Mike Dmitrich Highway in his honor. After a bit of a kerfluffle a few years later, that was renamed the Mike Dmitrich Byway.

Dmitrich is survived by his wife, their three children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He has requested no services.