George Christopher
| George Christopher | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 34th Mayor of San Francisco | |
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In office January 8, 1956 – January 8, 1964 |
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| Preceded by | Elmer Robinson |
| Succeeded by | John F. Shelley |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
George Christophes December 8, 1907 Arcadia, Greece |
| Died | September 14, 2000 (aged 92) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Tula Sarantitis |
| Profession | Accountant, businessman |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox |
George Christopher (December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was a Greek-American politician, and the 34th Mayor of San Francisco, serving in that office from January 1956 until January 1964. He is to date the last Republican to be elected mayor of San Francisco; all San Francisco mayors since he left office have been Democrats.
Born George Christophes in Arcadia, Greece, the son of James and Mary (née Koines) Christophes. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1910 and settled in San Francisco's South of Market Street neighborhood, then known as "Greektown", when Christopher was two years old. Christopher left day school at the age of fourteen when his father James died, and he became sole support of his family. He sold papers, then talked his way into a job at the San Francisco Examiner as a copy boy. In 1935, he married Tula Sarantitis, daughter of a baker for whom George did bookkeeping. After studying accounting at Golden Gate College, from which he earned a BA in Accounting in 1930, he worked for numerous small firms keeping their accounts and eventually bought out a small dairy on Fillmore Street, which became the Christopher Dairy.
A liberal Republican, Christopher began his political career in 1945 when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; on re-election, he became board president. Christopher ran for Mayor in 1951 and lost to incumbent mayor Elmer Robinson, but was eventually elected mayor in November 1955, taking office the following January. He hosted the Republican National Convention at the Cow Palace in August 1956 which renominated President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was re-elected in 1959 for a second term.
Christopher was instrumental in bringing the New York Giants baseball team to San Francisco in 1958 (where they became the San Francisco Giants) and in securing the funding to build Candlestick Park, on the abandoned lands of Sunset Scavenger on Candlestick Point; the ballpark opened for the Giants 1960 season. His administration has been credited with the building of the Brooks Hall, twelve new schools, seventeen firehouses, six public swimming pools, the five-story Fifth and Mission and the underground Civic Center garages.
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