Bruce Bolling
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Bruce Carlton Bolling (April 29, 1945September 11, 2012) was a politician and businessman in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. He was a member of the
Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year ...
and served as the council's first
black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
president in the mid-1980s. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 1993.


Early years

Bolling was educated at
Boston English High School The English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1821, is one of the first public high schools in the United States. Originally called The English Classical School, it was renamed upon its first relocation in 1824.''Encyclopædia Bri ...
,
Lindsey Wilson College Lindsey Wilson College is a private, United Methodist-related college in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 as a training school, the college now offers in-person and online degree programs, offered at the associate, bachelor's, master's, and ...
, and received a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in education from Antioch University (now
Cambridge College Cambridge College is a private college based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also operates regional centers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and Rancho Cucamonga, California. There is a ...
). He was from "the city's most politically successful black family. His father,
Royal L. Bolling Royal Lee Bolling (June 19, 1920 – July 16, 2002) was a Massachusetts politician and head of a prominent African-American political family. While serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1965, he sponsored the state's Boston bus ...
, was a
state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...
and his brother, Royal L. Bolling Jr., served as
state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...
."


Political career

Around 1980, Bolling worked "in the administration of Mayor Kevin White in a variety of capacities, including positions in the Office of Public Safety and as a manager of a Little City Hall." In November 1981, he was elected to the Boston City Council, in the final election when all seats were
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...
. He was subsequently re-elected to four two-year terms as the representative for District 7 ( Roxbury). He was council president in 1986 and 1987 — "the first Black elected president of the Boston City Council." He lost his position on the council following the November 1991 election, when he unsuccessfully sought an at-large seat. He returned to the council in September 1992, following the death of at-large member Christopher A. Iannella, as Bolling had finished fifth in the election for four at-large seats. Bolling ran for
Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a m ...
in
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
, finishing fifth in the preliminary election.


Later years and legacy

From 2000 until his death, Bolling was director of MassAlliance, a firm specializing in
small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...
development. He died of
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
on September 11, 2012. He was 67. In 2015, the Ferdinand Building in then-Dudley Square (now
Nubian Square Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square) is the primary commercial center of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Washington Street. It has long been the center of African America ...
) was renamed the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in his honor. The dedication ceremony was attended by his brother, Royal L. Bolling Jr., Massachusetts Governor
Charlie Baker Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician serving as the sixth president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 72nd governor of Massa ...
, Boston Mayor
Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and trade union official who served as the 58th mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021 and as the 29th United States Secretary of Labor from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democr ...
, and other Massachusetts politicians.


References


Further reading

;Publications by Bolling * * * ;Publications about Bolling * * (Controversy over taxi driver refusing to drive black City Councilman Bruce Bolling home to Roxbury neighborhood). *


External links


Bolling profile
at bostonlocaltv.org

at ourcampaigns.com
Community, Officials Honor Legacy of Bruce Bolling
via
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Bruce C. Bolling Building Renaming Ceremony
at cityofboston.gov (April 7, 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolling, Bruce C Presidents of the Boston City Council Businesspeople from Boston 20th century in Boston 1945 births 2012 deaths Deaths from prostate cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts Cambridge College alumni African-American city council members in Massachusetts 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American businesspeople