William Bryron Rumford
William Byron Rumford
(February 2, 1908 - June 12, 1986)
was a pharmacist who worked on this very
block. In 1948 he was elected to the California
State assembly becoming the first African
American elected to any public office in NOrthern
California. He took the lead in passing California's
major civil rights Acts, including the 1959 Fair
Employment Practices Act and the 1963
Rumford Fair Housing Act which them became models
for national civil rights legislation. He has been ref-
erred to as the "Jackie Robinson" of politics.