Sidney A. Katz

Early life and education Katz is a lifelong resident of Gaithersburg. His family was the only Jewish one in Gaithersburg. He attended Gaithersburg Elementary and Gaithersburg Middle School. He attended the University of Maryland, where he received his bachelor's degree in public administration. He served as a Gaithersburg council member beginning in 1978.

After Mayor W. Edward Bohrer died in office of a stroke in 1998, the Gaithersburg Council appointed Katz the new mayor.

In 2008, Katz supported a law to prohibit seeking work or hiring someone to work while on most city streets, sidewalks, and parking areas. The law was declared unconstitutional by Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. Gansler said the law regulated speech in public without being narrowly designed to increase public safety and traffic flow.

In 2014, Montgomery Council Council Member Phil Andrews announced that he would not run for re-election and would run for County Executive instead. Katz announced he would run to replace Andrews on the County Council representing District 3. Katz won the Democratic Party primary election. With no opponent on the general election ballot, Katz won the general election in 2014. His term began on December 1, 2014. He sits on the government operations and public safety committee.

Personal life He was the co-owner, along with other family members, of Wolfson's Department Store on East Diamond Avenue in Gaithersburg from 1971 until he closed the store on October 26, 2013. The business was started by his grandparents, Jacob and Rose Wolfson, in 1918.