Sammie Abdullah Abbott (April 25, 1908 - December 15, 1990) was an American politician who served as the 18th mayor of Takoma Park, Maryland, from 1980 to 1985.
[4] Abbott was born in Ithaca, New York, to Syrian Christian refugees fleeing Turkish persecution in Syria.
[1][4] In 1938, he met his wife, Ruth, in a Buffalo jail when she came to visit her father, a bricklayer and union activist, who had been arrested with Abbott.
[1][4] When the United States entered World War II, Abbott enlisted in the Army Air Corps, serving in the European Theater and earning a Bronze Star.
[1][2] As mayor, he oversaw the institution of rent control, installed speed bumps and four-way stops to slow traffic, and he successfully blocked the closing of public schools in Takoma Park.