Ron Dellums

Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 9th congressional district, in office from 1971 to 1998, after which he worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

Dellums was born into a family of labor organizers, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps before serving on the Berkeley, California, City Council. He was the first African American elected to Congress from Northern California and the first successful openly socialist non-incumbent Congressional candidate after World War II. His politics earned him a place on President Nixon's enemies list.

During his career in Congress, he fought the MX Missile project and opposed expansion of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber program. When President Ronald Reagan vetoed Dellums's Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate overrode Reagan's veto, the first override of a presidential foreign-policy veto in the 20th century.

Dellums was born in Oakland, California, to Verney and Willa (Terry) Dellums. His father was a longshoreman. His uncle, C. L. Dellums, was one of the organizers and leaders of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He had a younger sister, Theresa. His mother Willa died on August 17, 2008, at the age of 89.

Dellums attended St. Patrick Catholic School, Oakland Technical High School and McClymonds High School. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956. Dellums later received his A.A. degree from the Oakland City College, now Merritt College, in 1958, his B.A. from San Francisco State University in 1960, and his M.S.W. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1962. He became a psychiatric social worker and political activist in the African-American community beginning in the 1960s. He also taught at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Dellums was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He was also a member of the fraternity's World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics, and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.

Dellums was married three times. He married his second wife, attorney Leola "Roscoe" Higgs, in 1961. The two divorced in 1998. He married his third wife, Cynthia Lewis, in 2000.

One son, Michael, was convicted of a drug-related homicide in 1979, and remains in prison, being repeatedly denied parole due to bad behavior. Dellums had five other children: anthropologist Rachel R. Chapman, professional actor Erik, author Piper, Brandon and Pam; six grandchildren: Danielle Henderson, Jacob Holmes, Sydney Ross, Dylan Ross, Olivia Dellums, and actress Solea Pfeiffer; and two great-grandchildren: Jared Henderson and Charli Henderson.