People
Name: Bosley, Jr., Freeman R.
Mayor
Profession: Mayor (Number 43)
Term as Mayor: 1993-1997
Born/Started: 1954
Description: Freeman R. Bosley Jr. was the 47th mayor of St. Louis and the first African American to hold that office. He was elected in 1993 and served one four-year term. Bosley´s administration was challenged early on by the Flood of 1993, for which he supervised emergency services and disaster relief efforts. He played a leadership role in the federal government’s bailout of Trans World Airlines and the subsequent relocation of their headquarters to St. Louis. He also helped negotiate the relocation of the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams to St. Louis to play in the newly constructed dome stadium on the north side of downtown. Two property tax increases were also passed during his administration.
Bosley was born in St. Louis in 1954 and graduated from Central High School. He graduated from Saint Louis University in 1976 with a B.A. in Urban Affairs and a B.A. in Political Science. He received his J.D. from Saint Louis University Law School in 1979. While a student at St. Louis University, Bosley was president of the Black Student Alliance and the Black-American Law students Association.
Bosley’s early career included serving as a staff attorney for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, and as an attorney with the law firm of Boast and Jordan. He then went on to become the first African-American St. Louis Circuit Clerk for the 22nd Judicial Circuit—a position he has held for 10 years. He served as the 3rd Ward Democratic Committeeman, chairman of the St. Louis City Democratic Central Association, and the first African-American chairman of the Democratic Party.
Bosley’s father, Freeman R. Bosley, Sr., is a city alderman from the 3rd Ward. His grandfather, Preston Bosley, was the son of a slave who established the Yeatman Community Development Corp. and Yeatman Community Health Center.
Bosley and his wife, Darlynn, have one daughter.
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