Ron Dellums

Ron Dellums
48th Mayor of Oakland
In office January 8, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Jerry Brown
Succeeded by	Jean Quan
Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee
In office January 3, 1995 – February 6, 1998
Preceded by	Floyd Spence
Succeeded by	Ike Skelton
Chair of the House Armed Services Committee
In office January 20, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Les Aspin
Succeeded by	Floyd Spence
Chair of the House District of Columbia Committee
In office January 3, 1979 – January 20, 1993
Preceded by	Charles Diggs
Succeeded by	Pete Stark
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California
In office January 3, 1971 – February 6, 1998
Preceded by	Jeffery Cohelan
Succeeded by	Barbara Lee
Constituency	7th district (1971–1975) 8th district (1975–1993) 9th district (1993–1998)
Personal details
Born	Ronald Vernie Dellums (1935-11-24)November 24, 1935 Oakland, California, U.S.
Died	July 30, 2018(2018-07-30) (aged 82) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Other political affiliations	Democratic Socialists of America
Spouses	Athurine Dellums ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1959)​ Roscoe Higgs ​ ​ (m. 1961; div. 1998)​ Cynthia Lewis ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	5, including Erik and Piper
Relatives	C. L. Dellums (uncle)
Education	Merritt College San Francisco State University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (MSW)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1954–1956
Rank	Private first class[1]
Ron Dellums's voice Dellums, as chair of the House Armed Services Committee, outlines the conference report for the FY1995 National Defense Authorization Act Recorded August 17, 1994

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.^[2] 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.^[3]