   walter edward washington, (april 15, 1915 &ndash; october 27, 2003) was an american politician. he was chief executive of washington, d.c. from 1967 to 1979, serving as the first and only mayor-commissioner from 1967 to 1974 and as the first home-rule mayor of the district of columbia from 1974 to 1979. he was the last presidentially-appointed mayor of washington. ==early life and family== washington, the great-grandson of an american slave, was born in dawson, georgia and raised in jamestown, new york. he graduated with a bachelor's degree from howard university and his law degree from howard university school of law. he was a member of omega psi phi fraternity. after graduating from howard in 1948, washington was hired as a supervisor for d.c.'s alley dwelling authority. he worked for the authority until a 1961 appointment by john f. kennedy as the executive director of the national capital housing authority, the housing department of the then-federally controlled district of columbia. in 1966 he took the same position in the administration of new york city mayor john lindsay. his first wife, bennetta bullock, died in 1991. by this marriage he had one daughter, sociologist bennetta jules-rosette. in 1994 he married mary burke. mary burke died november 30, 2014 at the age of 88.http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mary-washington-government-official-and-widow-of-dc-mayor-dies-at-88/2014/12/05/007d2856-7cc4-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html ==mayor of the district of co
1915_births 2003_deaths African-American_mayors African-American_politicians Howard_University_School_of_Law_alumni Howard_University_alumni Mayors_of_Washington,_D.C. Members_of_the_Board_of_Commissioners_for_the_District_of_Columbia People_from_Dawson,_Georgia People_from_Jamestown,_New_York