Born and raised in West Bloomfield, John Kuriakuz is a Democratic candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives in the 39th District, covering most of West Bloomfield Township, all of Commerce Township and the Village of Wolverine Lake.
"There are some who see things as they are and say why . . . I dream things that never were and say, why not?"
-- Robert F. Kennedy
John Kuriakuz was born in West Bloomfield, Michigan in 1979. His father, a Chaldean immigrant from a small farming village in northern Iraq, worked long hours at the family-run grocery store to support a family of six. His mother, an immigrant from the rural Mexican state of Jalisco, worked at home raising John and his three siblings.
John Kuriakuz proudly attended West Bloomfield public schools for his entire K-12 education. While attending high school, Kuriakuz also attended Oakland Community College where he took evening classes in advanced calculus not available at the high school level.
Kuriakuz also had the honor of hearing the late Dr. Seymour Gretchko speak at his graduation from West Bloomfield High School in 1997 where Dr. Gretchko spoke of the booming economy at the time and the many opportunities available in Michigan to the graduating class. John Kuriakuz is reminded of those words today as he continues his campaign to make Dr. Gretchko's description of Michigan a reality in the present day.
Following graduation from West Bloomfield High School, Kuriakuz attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California where he majored in Economics and completed a Master's degree in International Policy Studies at the age of 21. While at Stanford, Kuriakuz had the honor of meeting former Vice President Al Gore during one of the Vice President's campaign stops in the Bay Area (as pictured above).
Also while at Stanford, John Kuriakuz had the honor of working for United States Senator Carl Levin in Washington, D.C. Kuriakuz's experience in working with Michigan's senior Senator instilled in him the importance of competent leadership and confirmed his early devotion to public service.
Following graduation from Stanford University, John Kuriakuz was hired by Wall Street investment banking firm Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an analyst in its Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities Division in New York City. As a bond analyst on Wall Street, Kuriakuz was trained to understand the workings of financial markets and the impact of government policies on our economy.
Kuriakuz's first few months in New York City left an indelible mark on his life. While working in downtown Manhattan, Kuriakuz witnessed first-hand the horrors that took place on September 11, 2001. While walking to a traning program near the World Trade Center, Kuriakuz stood in shock on a street corner as he saw with his own eyes a second plane crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Following the collapse of the South Tower, Kuriakuz fled by foot along with countless others over the Brooklyn Bridge and into safety in nearby Brooklyn Heights. The following letter to the editor of the West Bloomfield Eccentric, written by John Kuriakuz on the one-year anniversary of September 11th, recounts his experiences on that tragic day in more detail: West Bloomfield Eccentric, Letter to the Editor, "Hesitant eyewitness" - September 12, 2002.
As Kuriakuz concluded in his letter to the editor in 2002, "We should all commit ourselves in some way to make certain that our country makes the right decisions in preventing a reoccurence of this evil, and preventing another date on the calendar from becoming synonymous with tragedy and sorrow." Nearly six years later, through his continued devotion to public service, Kuriakuz continues this very committment.
A graduate of Stanford Law School, John Kuriakuz is currently an attorney specializing in commercial litigation and is admitted to practice in both Michigan's State and Federal Courts. To the left is a picture of Kuriakuz with Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Frank Easterbrook and California Supreme Court Justice Carolos Moreno, among others.
Kuriakuz is also very active in his community and is an active and proud member of the West Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce and the West Bloomfield Optimist Club. Kuriakuz is also a member of the Detroit Economic Club, the Oakland County Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association where he volunteers his time leading tours of the Levin Federal Courthouse to inner-city schoolchildren. John Kuriakuz also volunteers his time for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
Most recently, John Kuriakuz resigned from his position at a prestigious Detroit law firm to focus entirely on the campaign and to continue fighting for a better Michigan. As Kuriakuz stated in the campaign's most recent press release, "Most people are surprised by my willingness to put my legal career on hold to enter this race. I've been told by some people that I'm young and 'can afford to wait.' But when you look at what's going on around us here in Michigan, I don't think that any of us can afford to wait."
During the course of a campaign, voters seldom have the opportunity to get to know candidates on a personal level. Most voters learn much of their information about candidates from campaign literature and mass mailings.
John prides his campaign for its focus on direct one-on-one conversation with voters. He understands that when voters go to the polls on election day, they elect people -- not campaign logos and clever slogans.
In his spare time, John enjoys playing tennis, learning the guitar, spending time with his eight nieces and nephews, and traveling. Below is a picture from his trip to Israel taken on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Above is a picture of John's four year-old nephew teaching John how to play soccer.