Ron Dellums, Calif.’s former fiery congressman, at 82

Ron Dellums, a fiery anti-war activist who championed social justice as Northern California’s first black congressman, died yesterday from cancer, according to a longtime adviser. He was 82.

Mr. Dellums died at his home in Washington.

A former Marine who got his start in politics on the City Council of the liberal enclave of Berkeley, he defeated a labor-backed Democrat to win his first election to Congress in 1970. He retired in 1998 and was later elected mayor of his native Oakland in 2006.

A self-identified Democratic socialist, Mr. Dellums was at the center of most major liberal movements of the 1970s and 1980s. He led the drive to sanction South Africa during apartheid, challenged U.S. entry into wars, opposed increased military spending and helped start the Congressional Black Caucus.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a friend of Mr. Dellums, said U.S. sanctions and divestment from South Africa during apartheid would not have happened without Mr. Dellums, who pushed legislation for nearly 15 years to place economic restrictions on that nation.

Mr. Dellums opposed almost every U.S. entry into military conflict during his tenure in Congress and, as head of the Congressional Black Caucus, began submitting his own version of a scaled-back military budget.