Frank Skartados

Frank Skartados (January 3, 1956 – April 15, 2018; ) was a Greek-American politician and businessman.

Skartados was a member of the Democratic Party. A resident of the Ulster County hamlet of Milton, where he ran a farm, he was the Assemblyman for the 104th district of the New York State Assembly in the mid-Hudson, which includes both the city and town of Newburgh, the cities of Beacon, and Poughkeepsie, the hamlet of Marlboro, and the town of Lloyd. He defeated 14-year Republican incumbent Thomas J. Kirwan in 2008 for what was then the 100th district, but narrowly lost to him two years later in a contest not formally decided for four months.

Kirwan died less than a year into his term, and Skartados won the 2012 special election to fill the seat, the first election held for what was now the redrawn 104th district, which excluded some areas of Ulster County that were heavily Republican. He went on to win the general election that year and re-election in 2014 and 2016. After his death from pancreatic cancer in April 2018, Skartados was succeeded by Jonathan Jacobson.

Early life Skartados was born on the Greek island of Astypalaia. He grew up on a small farm which he worked with his father. He later worked in the restaurant industry and eventually owned one. Skartados was the founder and president of the Academy Street Business Association in Poughkeepsie. Skartados served the 100th district of the New York State Assembly from 2008 to 2010. Skartados secured millions of dollars for struggling schools in Marlboro, Highland and Poughkeepsie. He died in the hospital three days later, of pancreatic cancer, at age 62.

In response to Skartados' death, U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney praised Skartados' "legacy as a fighter for the people he loved and a voice for many who had none".