ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
CLEVELAND
Carl B. Stokes was praised Wednesday as a pioneer whose election as mayor 29 years ago was a political watershed for minorities.
He ``was a lifelong role model, not only for African Americans, but for all citizens who share his abiding concern for his fellow man,'' Ohio Gov. George Voinovich said.
The two-term Cleveland mayor, first elected in 1967, died Wednesday at age 68 at Cleveland Clinic. He had cancer of the esophagus.
Stokes, appointed ambassador to the Seychelles Islands in 1994 by President Clinton, took a medical leave of absence last June.
Clinton said Stokes was a friend and valued colleague who ``brought energy and humor to every task he undertook.''
The grandson of a slave won 50.5 percent of the vote in 1967 in a city that was 37 percent black.
``As mayor, Stokes inspired 14-year-old Mike White's dream of becoming the mayor of Cleveland,'' said Mayor Michael White, a black serving his second term.
Stokes ``inspired black Americans to aspire to higher political office all over the country,'' said his older brother, 14-term Rep. Louis Stokes.
As mayor, Stokes emphasized jobs and housing.
Stokes, who grew up in the city's first federally financed housing complex for the poor, also was the first black Democrat elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, in 1962.
In later years, Stokes and his brother would show visitors to Cleveland the housing project and explain that when they were youngsters they didn't know they were poor. Their father died when they were young and their mother worked as a cleaning woman.
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Stokesby CNB