Byron Brown

Byron William Brown II (born September 24, 1958) is an American politician who is the current mayor of Buffalo, New York. He has served as Buffalo's 62nd mayor since January 2006, the City's first African-American mayor and longest serving mayor. He previously served Western New York as a member of the New York State Senate and Buffalo Common Council. He is the first African-American politician elected to the New York State Senate to represent a district outside New York City and the first member of any minority race to represent a majority-white New York State Senate district. Brown was born and raised in Queens, New York. He rose to elected office after serving in a variety of political roles. He began his political career performing as an aide to local representatives in several legislative bodies (Buffalo Common Council, Erie County Legislature and New York State Assembly) and later became involved in a regional political organization. After several roles as a legislative aide, he was appointed to the Erie County cabinet-level Director of Equal Employment Opportunity post. Early life and education Brown was raised in Hollis in a duplex his family shared with his grandparents, who were immigrants from the Caribbean island of Montserrat. He grew up on 200th Street between 100th and 104th Avenues and has several relatives still in the area. As a Queens resident, he was a New York Mets and New York Knicks fan. Brown was a Boy Scout at Hollis Presbyterian Church in Queens and was also active in the Central Queens YMCA (now called Jamaica YMCA). Brown attended Public School 134 in Hollis, junior high school PS 109, and August Martin High School, where he played the trumpet in the high school band. Brown and his sister, Andrea, were the first generation in his family to attend college.