Willie Brown

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Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. (born March 20, 1934) was the first African American mayor of San Francisco, California. He served as mayor from January 8, 1996 until January 8, 2004, when he was succeeded by Gavin Newsom. He was previously a Democratic member of the California State Assembly from 1964-95. He served as speaker of the Assembly from 1981-95. He graduated from San Francisco State University and from the Hastings College of the Law.

Brown's long service in the Assembly, coupled with that body's tenure system for leadership appointments, gave Brown almost complete control over the California Legislature as the Assembly speaker. Brown was extremely popular in San Francisco, the district which he represented, but unpopular in the rest of the state, so he could not be removed from his position as speaker. Partially to remove Brown from his leadership position, Californians passed a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of the State Legislature. After Brown left office due to the term limits, the Assembly restructured their rules, giving most of the powers formerly held by the Speaker to a leadership committee made up of senior members of both parties.

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Willie Brown is also an American football player.

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