Bruce Bolling | |
Birth Date: | 29 April 1945 |
Death Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, US |
Nationality: | American |
Spouse: | Joyce Ferriabough |
Alma Mater: |
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Office: | President of the Boston City Council |
Term Start: | 1986 |
Term End: | 1987 |
Predecessor: | Joseph M. Tierney |
Successor: | Christopher A. Iannella |
Office1: | Member of the Boston City Council |
Term Start1: | September 1992 |
Term End1: | 1994 |
Predecessor1: | Christopher A. Iannella |
Successor1: | Peggy Davis-Mullen and Richard P. Iannella |
Constituency1: | At-large |
Term Start2: | 1984 |
Term End2: | 1991 |
Constituency2: | District 7 |
Predecessor2: | district created |
Successor2: | Anthony Crayton |
Term Start3: | 1982 |
Term End3: | 1984 |
Predecessor3: | Lawrence DiCara, Patrick F. McDonough, Rosemarie Sansone, and John W. Sears |
Successor3: | N/A |
Constituency3: | At-large |
Bruce Carlton Bolling (April 29, 1945September 11, 2012) was a politician and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Boston City Council and served as the council's first black president in the mid-1980s. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 1993.
Bolling was educated at Boston English High School, Lindsey Wilson College, and received a master's degree in education from Antioch University (now Cambridge College). He was from "the city's most politically successful black family. His father, Royal L. Bolling, was a state senator and his brother, Royal L. Bolling Jr., served as state representative."[1]
Around 1980, Bolling worked "in the administration of Mayor Kevin White in a variety of capacities, including positions in the Office of Public Safety and as a manager of a Little City Hall."[1] In November 1981, he was elected to the Boston City Council, in the final election when all seats were at-large. He was subsequently re-elected to four two-year terms as the representative for District 7 (Roxbury). He was council president in 1986 and 1987 — "the first Black elected president of the Boston City Council."[2] He lost his position on the council following the November 1991 election, when he unsuccessfully sought an at-large seat.[3] He returned to the council in September 1992, following the death of at-large member Christopher A. Iannella, as Bolling had finished fifth in the election for four at-large seats.[4] [5] Bolling ran for Mayor of Boston in 1993,[6] finishing fifth in the preliminary election.
From 2000 until his death, Bolling was director of MassAlliance, a firm specializing in small business development.[7] He died of prostate cancer on September 11, 2012.[8] He was 67.
In 2015, the Ferdinand Building in then-Dudley Square (now Nubian Square) was renamed the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in his honor.[9] [10] The dedication ceremony was attended by his brother, Royal L. Bolling, Jr., Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and other Massachusetts politicians.[11]