Walter R. Tucker, Jr.

Walter R. Tucker, Jr.

Walter R. Tucker, Jr. (August 27, 1924—October 1, 1990) was a dentist who served nine years as the Mayor of Compton, California.

Biography

Walter Rayford Tucker, Jr. was born in Oklahoma. He became a dentist and moved to Compton, California in the 1950s. Later he was elected to the City Council.

His rise to the office of mayor is a testament to his persistence. In 1969, he lost a run-off with City Councilman Douglas Dollarhide to become the city's first black mayor. Eight years later, Tucker lost a close race against Lionel Cade for the same position. Finally in 1981, he came back to decisively defeat Cade. He went on to serve nine years as mayor until his death from stomach cancer at the age of 66.

His son, Walter R. Tucker III succeeded him in a special election held the following year. Another son, Kenneth Tucker unsuccessfully ran to replace his brother after the latter was elected to Congress in 1992.

Walter R. Tucker Jr. was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. While in dental school at Meharry in Nashville, TN, he met Martha Hinton, a student at Fisk University. They married and had four children: Keta, Walter, Kenneth and Camille.

It is noted that Tucker came from a family of educators. His father was principal of the local high school in Haskell, OK; his mother was a teacher there. Out of eight children, all obtained college degrees. Tucker and two of his brothers were doctors and five other siblings obtained master's degrees and became educators.

Circa 1970 Tucker bought land and built a medical building with his brothers, Booker T., an oral surgeon, and S. Edward, an OBGYN. At the time, they were in a small group of African American doctors in Los Angeles who owned their own medical building. Serving the Watts community for many years, the brothers finally sold the building in the 80's and the area was redeveloped into a strip mall. In addition to practicing dentistry and holding political office, Tucker served as an Associate Pastor at Zion Baptist Church.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Walter R. Tucker III — Infobox Congressman name = Walter R. Tucker III date of birth = birth date and age|1957|5|28 place of birth = Compton, California state = California district = 37th term start = January 3, 1993 term end = December 15, 1995 preceded = Mervyn M.… …   Wikipedia

  • Tucker (surname) — Tucker is a surname.Derivation of nameThe origin of the name is not entirely sure, but since it has a long history as a surname on both the continent as in England and from thereon also in the United States it presumably has the same Saxon roots …   Wikipedia

  • Walter Tucker — may refer to:*Walter R. Tucker III, US Congressman from California *Walter Tucker, Saskatchewan politician …   Wikipedia

  • Tucker — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Abi Tucker (* 1973 als Abigail Anne Tucker), australische Schauspielerin und Rocksängerin Albert William Tucker (1905–1995), US amerikanischer Mathematiker Audrey Tucker (* um 1957), australische… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Walter Tucker (Canadian politician) — Infobox Prime Minister name = Walter Adam Tucker honorific suffix = caption = office1 = Leader of the Opposition term start1 = 1949 term end1 = 1953 predecessor1 = William John Patterson successor1 = Asmundur A. Loptson party = Liberal birth date …   Wikipedia

  • Walter Block — Austrian School Walter Block teaching Born 21 August 1941 (1941 08 21) …   Wikipedia

  • Tucker: L'homme et son rêve — Tucker (film) Pour les articles homonymes, voir Tucker. Tucker (Tucker: The Man and His Dream) est un film américain réalisé par Francis Ford Coppola, sorti en 1988 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Walter Matthau — in Charade (1963) Born Walter John Matthow October 1, 1920(1920 10 01) New York City, New York …   Wikipedia

  • Walter Crane — Walter Crane, ca. 1886 Born 15 August 1845(1845 08 15) Liverpool, Lancashire, England …   Wikipedia

  • Walter von Hauff — (* 1949) ist ein deutscher Schauspieler und Synchronsprecher. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Wirken 2 Filmografie 3 Synchronisation 3.1 Fi …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”