David Dinkins, New York City’s first black mayor, has died at the age of 93.
Dinkins death was confirmed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the NYT reports: “Cautious, deliberate, a Harlem Democrat who climbed to City Hall through relatively minor elective and appointive offices, Mr. Dinkins had none of the flamboyance of Edward I. Koch, who preceded him, or Rudolph W. Giuliani, who succeeded him — who, along with Fiorello H. La Guardia in the 1930s and ’40s, were arguably the city’s most dominant mayors of the 20th century. Indeed, many historians and political experts say that as the 106th mayor of New York, from 1990 through 1993, Mr. Dinkins suffered by comparison with the Gullivers bestriding him.”
“David Dinkins supported the LGBT community prior to his election as Mayor in 1989, and sustained his commitment throughout his mayoralty,” the NYC Archive notes. “His photographs document numerous receptions and press conferences related to LGBT events as well as the June 27, 1993 parade. ‘It’s not unusual for me,’ Mr. Dinkins said about taking part in the parade. ‘I’m here every year.'”
