HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Roger Boas (August 21, 1921 – February 10, 2017) was a
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
businessman and politician, long prominent in the Democratic Party in northern California.


Biography

Boas was born August 21, 1921, in San Francisco, the son of Benjamin Boas, a finance company executive of German descent, and Laurie Kline Boas. He went to public schools in San Francisco, including Grant Grammar School and Galileo High School, and graduated from Stanford University. He joined the army and served in Europe during World War II, where he was awarded the
Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious a ...
for "meritorious service" in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United States, on August 8–9, 1944, near Caudan, France. He also received the
Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an ...
for "gallantry in action" and five battle stars. He was a member of the 94th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armoured Division and served as the battalion adjutant. In 1950, he went to work at his father's Pontiac dealership, Boas Motor and took over as owner in 1965. In 1958, together with the future Mayor and US Senator
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
and
Ron Pelosi Ronald Virgil Pelosi (born November 2, 1934) is an American businessman and public figure in San Francisco, California. Biography Pelosi was born in San Francisco in an Italian-American family on November 2, 1934, and was reared in that city. H ...
, Boas was a key figure in the 1958 campaign that elected
Clair Engle Clair Engle (September 21, 1911July 30, 1964) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from California from 1959 until his death in 1964. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for participating in the vo ...
to the US Senate. Four years later, Boas was himself elected to the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a ...
, on which he served until 1973. An avowed liberal, he was quoted in 1968 (when he also chaired the
California Democratic Party The California Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in Sacramento. With 43.5% of the state's registered voters as of 2018, the Democratic Party has the highest number o ...
) as discouraging the influx of "Summer of Love" young people into the city:
My advice to kids around the country is not to come here. There must be hippie havens other than San Francisco.
In 1963, Boas began the weekly TV program, ''World Press'', a round table discussion examining news from the US and abroad, with a panel of seventeen experts. ''World Press'' was the first national network program originating in San Francisco and was broadcast on 185 stations. After running unsuccessfully for
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
in 1972 against the Republican incumbent
William S. Mailliard William Somers Mailliard (June 10, 1917 – June 10, 1992) was an American banker and World War II veteran who was member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California from 1953 to 1974. Early life William S. Mailliard was born on June 1 ...
, Boas became
Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is a top-tier executive who supervises the daily operations of an organization and is ultimately responsible for its performance. Government and non-profit A CAO is responsible for administrative management of ...
of San Francisco under mayors
George Moscone George Richard Moscone (; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known ...
and
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
from 1977 to 1986. Boas' duties included overseeing a workforce of 2,500 in departments and special projects with combined operating budgets of about $200 million and capital budgets of about $1.8 million. His responsibilities included overseeing San Francisco's sewer system and garbage collection, and one of his biggest accomplishments was in 1980 with the Solid Waste Program, a long-term program for managing the city's solid waste. This included "reducing waste at the source, separating waste for reuse, continuing mass collection, processing and converting waste to energy, and finding a landfill site for sanitary disposal of wastes that could be converted or recycled". He also oversaw the development of convention facilities, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the long-delayed $128.3 million Moscone Center, built in 1981. The action by the Board of Supervisors in approving the construction of the busiest convention center in the country was "a triumph for San Francisco" and one of Boas' greatest achievements. His political achievements also include leading the South of Market revitalization and spearheading the BART link to San Francisco International Airport. In the 1980s, he produced a report discussing infrastructure, in which he correctly predicted that "unless the aging under surface infrastructure is dealt with properly, such street problems would reoccur at an ever-increasing rate". In 1987, Boas ran to succeed Feinstein as mayo but was defeated by
Art Agnos Arthur Christ Agnos (born Arthouros Agnos; [] September 1, 1938) is an American politician. He served as the 39th Mayor of San Francisco, mayor of San Francisco, California from 1988 to 1992 and as the Regional Head of the United States Department ...
. His campaign posters still "dotted the city" the following year when, during a police sting operation that broke up a widespread teenage prostitution ring, Boas' face was recognized by one of the prostitutes as "a man who had been soliciting the ring for three years".


Rape conviction

Boas pleaded guilty on October 22, 1988, to seven counts of statutory rape involving teenage girls, with twelve more counts dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea. On November 19, 1988, he was fined $100,000, and sentenced to six months of community service.


1980s to death

Boas was a long time member of the Concordia Club in San Francisco. In the 1990s, he taught an Urban Studies Series at the Fromm Institute at the
University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The ...
. He is the longest-serving member of the Friends of the Fromm Institute Board of Directors. In May 2011, he was honored at the 35-year anniversary of the Fromm Institute in which he presented a lecture entitled "The Last 35 Years: Progress or Decline". In November 2011,
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sei ...
, the
President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...
awarded Boas the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
at a
Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring Veteran, military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who ...
ceremony in San Francisco for contributing to the
Liberation of France The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance. Nazi Germany inv ...
. Boas died of natural causes in his San Francisco home on February 10, 2017.


References


Bibliography

*John Roger Boas, "Democratic State Central Committee Chairman, 1968–1970," an oral history conducted in 1982 by Sarah Sharp, i
''Democratic Party Politics and Environmental Issues in California, 1962–1976''
Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boas, Roger 1921 births 2017 deaths American city managers United States Army personnel of World War II California Democratic Party chairs California Democrats California politicians convicted of crimes People convicted of statutory rape offenses American politicians convicted of sex offences Businesspeople from San Francisco San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Military personnel from California Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Legion of Honour Stanford University alumni United States Army soldiers 20th-century American businesspeople