Lewis Evangelidis


Lewis George Evangelidis is the sheriff of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Prior to his being sheriff Evangelidis was a Republican member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Early life and education

Evangelidis was born in a three-decker apartment in Worcester, Massachusetts to Judith C., and her husband George L. an attorney. Evangelidis is the first of three children. He has two sisters, Donna and Kim. Evangelidis was raised in Holden, Massachusetts where he attended the local public schools. Evangelidis graduated from Wachusett Regional High School, and then attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he received a BS in Economics in 1983. Evangelidis received his JD degree from Temple University School of Law in 1987.

Marriage

After law school, Evangelidis married fellow Temple Law School Graduate, Mary Jude Pigsley.

Career before politics

After his graduation from University of Massachusetts Amherst, Evangelidis moved to Berkeley, California where he worked digging trenches at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. After working in Berkeley, Evangelidis moved to Manhattan. While living in New York City Evangelidis worked as a Commodities broker in the World Trade Center.
After working in New York, Evangelidis attended Temple University School of Law. While he was a student at Temple University, Evangelidis worked in a precursor to the LEAP program. Evangelidis would go into the public high schools of north Philadelphia and supplement classes by teaching constitutional law to the students.
After his graduation from Temple University in 1987, Evangelidis took and passed, in the same week, the bar exams in Massachusetts and Florida.
Evangelidis was admitted to the state bars of Florida and Massachusetts in 1988.
Evangelidis went to work as an assistant in the Dade County, Florida State Attorney's office, then run by State Attorney Janet Reno.
After working as a Dade County State Attorney, Evangelidis went to work as an assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
After leaving the Suffolk County's District Attorney's office, Evangelidis went on to work for the Worcester, Massachusetts law firm of Pellegrini and Seeley.

Political career

Before his election to the House of Representatives Evangelidis was a member of the Holden Finance Committee.

Election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives

In April 2002 Evangelidis announced that he was going to be a candidate for election to the first Worcester District of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. On September 17, 2002, in his first bid for elective office, Evangelidis won the Republican nomination for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Evangelidis won the nomination over former Holden, Massachusetts Selectman Mark S. Ferguson by 53 votes. In that primary 2,568 votes were cast for Mr. Evangelidis vs. 2,515 for Mr. Ferguson.
On November 5, 2002, Evangelidis was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives defeating incumbent Democratic Representative David C. Bunker Jr. Evangelidis garnered 10,646 votes to 7,854 for Bunker. From January 2003 to January 2011. Evangelidis represented the 1st Worcester district made up out of the central Worcester County, Massachusetts communities of Holden, Westminster, Hubbardston, Oakham, Princeton, Rutland, and parts of Sterling.

2009 Massachusetts House Republican Party Leadership contest

In November 2008, Evangelidis announced that he was going to run for House Minority Leader, the top Republican post in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In the January 2009, leadership vote, Evangelidis lost the contest to incumbent House Minority Leader, Bradley Jones, Jr., by two votes, 7 to 9.

2010 Election for Worcester County Sheriff

On January 25, 2010 Evangelidis announced that he was going to run for Worcester County Sheriff. He was elected Sheriff in the Massachusetts state election held November 2, 2010.

Massachusetts Port Authority

In April 2015, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker appointed Evangelidis to the Massachusetts Port Authority Board of Directors, Baker swore Evangelidis onto the board on April 15, 2015. He has since been named the chair of the Massachusetts Port Authority.