American lawyer, politician, member of the Los Angeles police department for more than 20 years, city council member and mayor of Los Angeles beginning in 1973. The tall, quiet and regal sharecropper’s son was elected to a fifth term In 1989. Bradley ran for governor twice and was unsuccessful in both attempts. In 1984, he hosted the Olympic Summer Games.
Highly intelligent, and a pioneer, he was a man who got things done, bringing together the various ethnic minorities in a way no one else could have. The first and only black mayor in the history of Los Angeles, he opened city government to minorities and women for the first time, expanded social services to the urban poor and spurred economic growth. Under his administration, Los Angeles surpassed San Francisco as the West Coast’s economic power in Pacific Rim trading, symbolized by the growing downtown skyline. His long hours and energy, even into his 70s, were legendary.
Bradley was sued by the City Attorney for failure to report $160,000 in personal assets on his annual disclosure forms and ordered to pay $20,000 from his own pocket in January 1990.
On 7/01/1993, he was replaced by Richard Riordan as mayor after a 20-year reign and went into private law practice.
Bradley died 9/29/1998, 9:00 AM of a heart attack. He had never fully recovered from a heart attack and stroke in 1996. He was survived by his wife, Ethel, and two grown daughters, Lorraine and Phyllis.
Link to Wikipedia biography