Irma Anderson

{{Short description|American politician (1930/1931 – 2024)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Irma Anderson | image = Irma L. Anderson, mayor of Richmond CA.gif | office = Mayor of Richmond, California | predecessor = Rosemary Corbin | successor = Gayle McLaughlin | term_end = 2006 | term_start = 2001 | office2 = City Council of Richmond, California | term_start2 = 1993 | term_end2 = 2000 | alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley | party = Democratic | spouse = Rev. Booker T. Anderson Jr. | children = 2 | birth_name = Irma Louise Husbands<ref>Engagement Announcement, ''The Boston Globe'', June 21, 1957, pg. 18</ref> | birth_date = January 18, 1931<ref>[https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/30/irma-anderson-former-richmond-mayor-and-political-trailblazer-dies-at-93/ Obituary], mercurynews.com. Accessed February 4, 2024.</ref> | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and given age|2024|01|28|93|mf=y}} | death_place = Richmond, California, U.S. }}

'''Irma Louise Anderson''' ({{nee}} Husbands; January 18, 1931 – January 28, 2024) was an American politician who was the elected mayor of the city of Richmond, California, serving between 2001 and 2006. She ran for re-election as the incumbent Democrat in the 2006 mayoral race and lost to Green Party challenger councilperson Gayle McLaughlin by 192 votes.<ref>[http://ca-richmond.civicplus.com/index.asp?NID=149 Profile], ca-richmond.civicplus.com; accessed January 17, 2016.</ref>

Before serving as mayor she was a member of the city council from 1993 through 2000. She was the first black woman to serve on the Richmond city council<ref name="newsbank">[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CC&s_site=contracostatimes&p_multi=CC&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1161D89DAC2E41C8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM ''Contra Costa Times'' profile]; December 18, 2006.</ref> and arguably claimed to be the first African American woman elected mayor of a major California city (although Doris A. Davis served as mayor of slightly smaller Compton, California in 1973).<ref name="SFC 2001">[https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/New-mayors-chosen-in-East-Bay-Woman-70-wins-2859756.php "Woman, 70, wins Richmond race"], San Francisco Chronicle via sfgate.com, November 8, 2001; retrieved December 12, 2011.</ref>

Anderson, born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, was her high school class valedictorian. She earned both RN and BSN degrees from Cornell University. She also earned an MPH at the school of public health of University of California, Berkeley.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

In 1954, Anderson came to Richmond, California, with her husband, the late Rev. Booker T. Anderson Jr. (who served as Mayor of Richmond from 1973 to 1974). The couple had two sons, Ahmad and Wilbert. Ahmad ran for Richmond City Council in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Q&A: Ahmad Anderson is a 'Native Son' of Richmond Politics |url=https://richmondpulse.org/2020/09/03/qa-ahmad-anderson-is-a-native-son-of-richmond-politics/ |website=Richmond Pulse |access-date=December 18, 2020 |date=September 3, 2020}}</ref>

Her career changed from nursing to politics working for the Contra Costa County Health Department where she began as a nurse and advanced to Director of Public Health Nursing. As mayor, Anderson worked with the West Contra Costa Unified School District developing after-school programs throughout the city of Richmond.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

Anderson died from pancreatic cancer at her home in Richmond, on January 28, 2024, at the age of 93.<ref name="Richmond obit">{{cite news|url=https://richmondstandard.com/community/2024/01/30/irma-anderson-trailblazing-former-richmond-mayor-dies-at-93/|title=Irma Anderson, trailblazing former Richmond mayor, dies at 93|first=Mike|last=Kinney|newspaper=The Richmond Standard|date=January 30, 2024|access-date=January 30, 2024|archive-date=January 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131013901/https://richmondstandard.com/community/2024/01/30/irma-anderson-trailblazing-former-richmond-mayor-dies-at-93/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Irma Anderson, former Richmond Mayor and political trailblazer, dies at 93|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/01/30/irma-anderson-former-richmond-mayor-and-political-trailblazer-dies-at-93/|last=Lauer|first=Katie|publisher=The Mercury News|date=January 30, 2024|access-date=January 30, 2024}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.asp?NID=29 Richmond City Council] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20051226110030/http://usmayors.org/USCM/cgi-bin/database_search6.asp?mode=search_db&last_name=Anderson&first_name=Irma U.S. Conference of Mayors]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Irma A.}} Category:1931 births Category:Politicians from Boston Category:2024 deaths Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Mayors of Richmond, California Category:Richmond City Council members (California) Category:Women mayors of places in California Category:African-American mayors in California Category:African-American nurses Category:American nurses Category:American women nurses Category:UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumni Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century mayors of places in California Category:20th-century African-American politicians Category:21st-century African-American women politicians Category:21st-century African-American politicians Category:African-American women mayors Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California Category:20th-century California politicians