By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher
San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper
The poet asks the rhetorical question: “What does it mean to be a man, my son?” And his answer: “To walk with kings and not lose the common touch.” These words best describe the late Leon Williams.
He was a statesman when we needed one most. He was a peacemaker in times of conflict, both racial and personal. He was a neighbor to so many who lived in communities beyond the one he resided in since 1947. At the time he purchased his home, Golden Hill had White Only restrictions in terms of home ownership. He was certainly the “trailblazer” so many called him as the first Black man to hold a number of elected positions in the City and County of San Diego. He won the citywide election to represent the Fourth City Council in 1969. He went on to get elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors where he served from 1982 until 1994.
He chaired the Metropolitan Transit System from 1993 until he retired in 2006. He played a major role in the creation of The Southeastern Economic Development Corporation and the Centre City Development Corporation, two key redevelopment agencies in the city’s history. He was responsible for the creation of Emergency Call Boxes along our highways before the development of cell phones which everyone carries today. He played a major part in the county’s creation of the Office of Public Defender as an alternative to outsourcing criminal defense representation to those who couldn’t afford private attorneys. He started the local Hate Crimes Registry and founded the county’s first Human Relations Commission, which today is named after him. He brought the Trolley to San Diego State University, which today is named after him.
Born in Oklahoma, where he experienced the Dust Bowl so many of us only know from the “Grapes of Wrath”, Mr. Williams’ family moved to Bakersfield, California before relocating to San Diego in 1941 to serve in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He lived and worked through discrimination and segregation in housing, restaurants, hotels, and a refusal to sell him car insurance. Yet he remained the kind of person always willing to get people to the table for solving problems and working things out. He gave over five decades of service to the City and County of San Diego, all of whom have suffered a great loss in his passing.
Services will be held Friday, March 28, 2025 at Calvary Baptist Church. Arrangements are being handled by Cypress View Mortuary.
