Wilson Goode
| Wilson Goode | |
|---|---|
| 121st Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
|
In office January 2, 1984 – January 6, 1992 |
|
| Preceded by | William J. Green, III |
| Succeeded by | Ed Rendell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 19, 1938 |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
W. Wilson Goode (born August 19, 1938) is a former Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the controversial MOVE police action and house bombing in 1985. Goode was also a community activist, commissioner for the state Public Utility Commission, and managing director for the City of Philadelphia.
Goode was born into a family of tenant farmers in North Carolina, arriving in Philadelphia in 1954. After graduating from John Bartram High School in January, 1957, he earned his degree from Morgan State University. (January graduations in Philadelphia, a post war practice to help reduced crowding, ended with the class of January, 1965—which included one of Goode's sisters.) After serving as co-founder of the Black Political Forum and manager of the unsuccessful 1971 mayoral campaign of State Representative Hardy Williams, he graduated from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.
After African-American state senators complained that there had never been an African-American member of the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) [1], Governor Milton Shapp began actively searching for one. His aide, Terry Dellmuth, knew Goode from his community and political activities and recommended him. Shapp (in Goode's judgment, perhaps mistaking him for someone else) nominated him and the state senate, despite its record of obstructing Shapp's PUC choices, confirmed him.
As a PUC commissioner, Goode met with community groups around the state, studied relevant issues, compiled what was seen as a pro-consumer record, and forged good working relations with his fellow commissioners. He was soon elevated to the chairmanship of the PUC, where he continued his pro-consumer policies but worked to limit PUC expenditures.
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