Roman Stanley Gribbs (December 29, 1925 – April 5, 2016) was an American attorney and politician who served as the

mayor of Detroit This is a list of mayors of Detroit, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014. History of Detroit's executive authority During the earliest part of its history, Detroit was a ...

from 1970 to 1974. Later, Gribbs served as a judge on the

Michigan Court of Appeals The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Michigan. It was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reporter (law), reported both in an officia ...

. Gribbs was the last

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

mayor of the city, which was in the midst of becoming a majority-

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 ...

city, until the election of

Mike Duggan Michael Edward Duggan (born July 15, 1958) is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician serving as the List of mayors of Detroit, Michigan, 75th mayor of Detroit, Michigan since 2014. An Independent politician, Independent, Duggan previo ...

in 2013.

Life and career

Gribbs was born in Detroit on December 29, 1925. He was raised on a farm near

Capac, Michigan Capac is a village in Mussey Township, Michigan, Mussey Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,890 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Capac was founded and pl ...

. His parents were Polish immigrants who were basically farmers, though his father also worked on the Ford assembly line. After graduating from high school in 1944, Gribbs served in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

until 1948. He graduated from the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catho ...

in 1952 with a degree in economics and accounting, and received a law degree from the same institution in 1954. He was an instructor at the university from 1955 through 1957, and became an assistant prosecutor in 1957, a position he held until 1964. He entered private practice in 1964, in the Detroit law firm of Shaheen, Gribbs, and Brickley, where he was partner with Joseph Shaheen of Grosse Pointe Park. Gribbs ran for a seat as a Recorder's Court judge in 1966, but lost. In 1968, Gribbs was appointed

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

of Wayne County, later winning a full four-year term.

Mayoralty

In 1969, he was elected mayor of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, defeating opponent Richard H. Austin who later became

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

. Rather than residing in the Manoogian Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of Detroit, Gribbs maintained residence in Rosedale Park, a neighborhood in northwest Detroit. In 1969, Gribbs created the Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets (STRESS), a secret and elite police unit. STRESS used a tactic called "decoy operation," where a police officer tried to entrap potential criminals in an undercover sting. From its inception, STRESS all but ignored white criminals, instead focusing their operations on black communities. STRESS increased confrontations between the black community and police. For example, during its first year of operation the Detroit Police Department had the "highest number of civilian killings per capita of any American police department." The unit was accused of conducting 500 raids without the use of search warrants and killing 20 people within 30 months. In 1973, Gribbs declined to seek re-election and was replaced by Coleman Young who was elected Detroit's first African-American mayor in November of that year. On July 21, 1973, Mayor Gribbs proclaimed “ Mary Wilson (of

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

) Day” in Detroit, and presented Wilson with a plaque to commemorate the event.

Subsequent career

After leaving the mayor's office, Gribbs returned to private practice. Gribbs became a circuit court judge in 1975. He was elected to the

in 1982, upon which he served until his retirement in 2001. Gribbs retired to Northville in suburban

, and conducted private practice in mediation and arbitration. He was the chairman of the board of directors of the Piast Institute, a research center devoted to Polish and Polish American affairs.

Personal life

Gribbs was married to Katherine Stratis (1932–2011) from 1954 to 1982, and together they had four daughters (Paula, Carla, Rebecca, Elizabeth) and one son (Christopher). In 1990, he married Leola Young Barr. Gribbs died on April 5, 2016, at his home in Northville, Michigan from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, aged 90.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gribbs, Roman 1925 births 2016 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Michigan Mayors of Detroit Sheriffs of Wayne County, Michigan Michigan Democrats Michigan state court judges Michigan Court of Appeals judges University of Detroit Mercy alumni American politicians of Polish descent People from St. Clair County, Michigan People from Northville, Michigan 20th-century Michigan state court judges 21st-century American judges