Gordon Lau; S.F.’s 1st Elected Asian American Supervisor

Gordon Lau, 56, San Francisco attorney and the city’s first elected Asian American supervisor. George Chinn was the first Asian American on the board in 1973, but he was appointed to the position and lost a bid for election nine months later. Lau served from 1977 to 1979. His board colleagues included now-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Quentin L. Kopp and Dan White, who was convicted of assassinating Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in November 1978. Always active in Chinese American community activities, Lau was a director of Shanghai Pacific Partners and served seven years as chairman of the San Francisco-Shanghai sister city committee. He advised many American companies on doing business in China. On Sunday in San Francisco of heart failure.