Warren Widener

Who is Warren Widener?

Warren Widener was a former Mayor of Berkeley, California, and former member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. He was the first African American mayor of Berkeley, serving two terms from 1971 to 1979. Widener was an attorney.

Widener was born in 1938 in Oroville, California. He died on June 25, 2013 in Hayward, California, aged 75. He served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, then went on to earn his law degree at Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley. He subsequently served as president of the Urban Housing Institute near the UC campus.