California’s Fiery Former Congressman Ron Dellums Dies at 82

By Kathleen Ronayne, Associated Press

In this Nov. 17, 1997 file photo Democratic Rep. Ron Dellums raises his fist while announcing his retirement from Congress at a news conference in Oakland, Calif. Dellums, a fiery anti-war activist who championed social justice as Northern California’s first black congressman, has died at age 82. Longtime adviser Dan Lindheim says Dellums died early Monday, July 30, 2018, at his home in Washington, D.C., of cancer. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Ron Dellums, a fiery anti-war activist who championed social justice as Northern California’s first black congressman, died Monday from cancer, according to a longtime adviser. He was 82.

Dellums died at his home in Washington.

A former Marine who got his start in politics on the City Council of the liberal enclave of Berkeley, he defeated a labor-backed Democrat to win his first election to Congress in 1970. He retired in 1998 and was later elected mayor of his native Oakland in 2006.

“He was absolutely committed to what was right and what was just and believed that you had to do whatever you could to fight for that,” said Dan Lindheim, who learned of Dellums’ death from his wife, Cynthia Dellums.

A self-identified Democratic socialist, Dellums was at the center of most major liberal movements of the 1970s and 1980s. He led the drive to sanction South Africa during apartheid, challenged U.S. entry into wars, opposed increased military spending and helped start the Congressional Black Caucus…

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