CHAMPION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

San Diego community leader Willie Blair, who fought for racial equality at City Hall and in Congress and mentored a new generation of leaders, died Thursday at age 69.

San Diego community leader Willie Blair fought for racial equity at San Diego City Hall and in Congress, and later as president of the Black American Political Association of California, mentoring a new generation of leaders.

Blair died Thursday night following an unspecified illness unrelated to COVID-19. He was 69 years old.

“He was very much about trying to close the achievement gap of Black Americans, and improve the standing to the Black community in San Diego and California,” said his daughter Deborah Smith.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said she was saddened and surprised to learn of Blair’s death and that he would leave a “tremendous void.” But, she added, he had also laid the groundwork for the next generation of leaders through his years of public service and at the helm of BAPAC, a civic engagement and public policy think tank that helps African American Californians improve their educational, professional and economic opportunities.

“We miss him immensely, because he gave so much,” said Weber, a longtime San Diegan. “But he trained so many, as well. Those working in BAPAC were under his tutelage. He’s been a tremendous role model to so many in how to serve, and how to serve selflessly.”

On Saturday, social media lit up with tributes to Blair from other local leaders, who stressed his dedication and service to his community.

“He was a remarkable man committed to service & fighting for the underrepresented in his work with @BAPACSD,” California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins tweeted.

San Diego civil rights activist Shane Harris recalled Blair as a thoughtful listener and speaker, who sought to raise the status of African Americans within the Democratic Party and in other institutions.

“He often shared with Democrats that Black lives ought to matter in the party that says it embraces everyone,” Harris said. “He always listened, and when he didn’t agree he still cared about you.”

In a 2015 interview about “upward mobility” on KPBS, Blair described the challenges that Black Americans still face securing a place in the middle class.

“There are still qualified Black people in California, who rightfully should obtain some high-paying whitecollar jobs as well as bluecollar jobs,” he said. “We’re still seeing a lot of those opportunities being denied because of racial discrimination. We’re still trying to become a mature society.”

Blair was also passionate about reaching out to find common ground with Latinos, Asians and other cultural groups, Smith said.

“He would do speeches everywhere, at churches, at the NAACP local chapter,” she said. “He was also huge with cross-alliances with the Hispanic community, with Filipino Americans, Native Americans.”

Blair was born in 1951 in Knoxville, Tenn., and grew up as one of eight children, Smith said. He received a bachelor of arts in political science from Maryville College in 1973, Smith said, and shortly after graduation was commissioned as an officer in the Navy.

Blair served for eight years, including a tour of duty in Vietnam as a small boat leader, where he participated in the evacuation of Saigon and Cambodia in May of 1975, said Ellen Nash, chairwoman of the San Diego Chapter of BAPAC. Blair moved to San Diego shortly after his honorable discharge in 1981 and earned a master of business administration and a subsequent doctorate in humanities and arts from Point Loma Nazarene University.

In 1985, Blair helped manage former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’connor’s successful campaign and then worked in her administration, Nash said. He later became a special assistant to former Congressman Bob Filner, focusing on veteran’s issues, including veteran homelessness, and retired in 2013, Smith said. She described her father as an “ardent writer and reader,” who loved dining out and watching movies, and even wrote a screenplay.

From 2008 to 2017 Blair served as board chairman for BAPAC, and in 2017 he was elected as the organization’s state president, Nash said.

“I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the loss of our dear friend and community leader,” Nash said in a statement, adding that Blair was passionate about helping people of color become homeowners and achieve educational and economic success.

Besides his daughter, Blair is survived by his siblings Janet, Trece and Roger, and a number of nieces and nephews.

COURTESY OF DEBORAH SMITH Community leader Willie Blair and his daughter Deborah Smith. Blair died Thursday.