The Honorable Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. - Mayor of San Francisco
City and County of San Francisco
Elected - December 12, 1995
Sworn In - January 8, 1996

Two recent polls commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Pew Center for Civic Journalism found that the diversity of race, culture and values was the single most common reason respondents gave for liking San Francisco. In a city known simultaneously for its diverse ethnic population and international cosmopolitanism, San Francisco boasts a "harmony between people of different races and sexual orientations," unlike any city in America.

Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., as the city's first African American mayor, continues to represent the past, present and future of civil rights and the cultural and intellectual diversity that symbolizes San Francisco's history of acceptance.

Mayor Brown's personal story is an inspirational one. Born into poverty in a small, racially segregated Texas town, Mayor Brown earned his first dollar as a shoeshine boy. Throughout his high school years, he worked as a janitor, a crop harvester and a messenger. On graduating, he moved to San Francisco, bringing with him a little more than a cardboard suitcase and hope in his heart.

He worked his way through and graduated from San Francisco State University and from the Hastings College of the Law. He was admitted to the State Bar of California and built a thriving law practice in what was then a dominantly white legal world.

Brown was elected to the California Assembly in 1964 and was re-elected 16 times, serving a total of 31 years in the Assembly. In 1980, he was elected Speaker of the Assembly, a position of power second only to that of the governor. The state's only African American Speaker, he held the position for an unprecedented 15 years.

Mayor Brown's personal experiences in the realm of racial discrimination have made him a tireless advocate for affirmative action. During his years as a state assemblyman, dozens of his bills became laws, including the passage of the most comprehensive educational reform and financing bill in 20 years. He also passed bills that requested the United States Congress to grant citizenship to Filipino veterans of WWII and eliminated criminal penalties for private sexual acts between consenting adults, a bill that was introduced before the Assembly five times before its ultimate passage.

While in the Assembly, several organizations awarded Brown for his tireless work on behalf of minority groups; he received the California Association of the Physically Handicapped Special Service Award, the ACLU Human Rights Award from the Gay Rights Chapter, the Tree of Life Award from the Jewish National Fund, the Japanese American Bar Association Award, and was honored by the California Advisory Commission on Special Education.

As mayor, he has continued his career-long commitment to civil rights and higher education, notably by designating the address of refurbished City Hall as Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place after the recently deceased San Francisco NAACP Chapter president and community activist. During the renaming ceremony and in front of a crowd of 7,000 people gathered at the 13th annual Martin Luther King Holiday rally, Mayor Brown restated his dedication for the betterment of education, continued fight for civil rights and vowed to continue representing all of the minority groups that make up San Francisco.

Mayor Brown continues to make good on this promise. He championed and signed legislation requiring all companies doing business with the city to grant equal benefits to their workers' domestic partners. As mayor, he presided over three domestic partner commitment ceremonies, the latest taking place in City Hall. His administration is also working toward guaranteeing universal health care for its 130,000 residents currently without medical coverage. Thanks to commitment from the City and the private sector, the University of California at San Francisco will break ground on its first new campus in over twenty years.

During his three years at the helm of one of America's most diverse cities, Mayor Brown has shown continued leadership, creating continued vitality and economic energy in San Francisco. Respected in the ethnically diverse neighborhoods as well as the burgeoning business community, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter was quoted as saying of Brown, "He's been magical in his ability to unite the city. There's been this unbelievable camaraderie between camps that have been at war for years."

POLITICAL HISTORY

Sworn in as Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, Jan. 8, 1996
Elected Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, Dec. 12, 1995
Speaker of the California State Assembly (longest-serving Speaker in California history, and the only African American) 1980-1995
Member of the Assembly, 1964-1995
Re-elected 16 straight times to the 13th Assembly District (D-San Francisco)
Chair, Committee on Ways and Means (youngest in history of California and the only African American)
Trustee, California State University
Regent, University of California
Chair, Revenue and Taxation Committee

DEGREES
Bachelor of Arts, San Francisco State University, 1955
Juris Doctor, Hastings College of Law, University of California, 1958
Admitted to practice law, State of California, all Federal Courts and Supreme Court

HONORARY DEGREES (partial)
Doctor of Law, Morehouse College, Atlanta
Juris Doctor, San Joaquin College of Law
Doctor of Science, California College of Podiatric Medicine
Doctor of Law, Atlanta University
Doctor of Law, Wilberforce University
Fellow, Crown College, University of California, Santa Cruz

PERSONAL
Born on March 20, 1934 in Mineola, Texas
Married in September, 1958, to the former Blanche Vitero of Berkeley, California

Children:
Susan Elizabeth Brown, New York
Robin Elaine Brown-Friedel, New York
Michael Elliot Brown, San Francisco
Grandchildren:
Besia Rose Friedel, New York
Matea Rae Friedel, New York

http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/mayor/about.htm