George L. Brown, 79; First Black to Hold Statewide Office in U.S.
George L. Brown, 79, a former lieutenant governor of Colorado who was the first African American to hold statewide office, died Friday of cancer at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., his family said.
Brown, a Democrat, directed the Denver Housing Authority before being appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1955. He was later elected to the state Senate, where he served five terms, before Dick Lamm asked him to be his running mate in the 1974 gubernatorial election.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. April 8, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday April 08, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
Brown obituary: An obituary brief on former Colorado Lt. Gov. George L. Brown in Wednesday’s California section said he was the first African American to hold statewide office in the United States when he was elected in 1974. In fact, African Americans held statewide offices in the Reconstruction period after the Civil War.
By a quirk of a one-hour time difference, Brown preceded Californian Mervyn Dymally as the nation’s first black lieutenant governor, the Denver Post reported.
After leaving office in 1979, Brown joined Grumman Corp. as vice president for marketing and later became the company’s chief lobbyist in Washington. He retired to Florida in 1996.
Brown, a native of Lawrence, Kan., served in pilot training with the Tuskegee Airmen toward the end of World War II. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Kansas in 1950 and worked for the Denver Post as a reporter and editor before entering politics.
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