Roman Gribbs

Roman Stanley Gribbs (December 29, 1925 – April 5, 2016) was an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Detroit from 1970 to 1974. Later, Gribbs served as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. Gribbs was the last white mayor of the city, which was in the midst of becoming a majority-black city, until the election of Mike Duggan in 2013. Life and career Gribbs was born in Detroit on December 29, 1925. He was raised on a farm near Capac, Michigan. His parents were Polish immigrants who were basically farmers, though his father also worked on the Ford assembly line. After graduating from high school in 1944, Gribbs served in the Army until 1948. He graduated from the University of Detroit in 1952 with a degree in economics and accounting, and received a law degree from the same institution in 1954. He was an instructor at the university from 1955 through 1957, and became an assistant prosecutor in 1957, a position he held until 1964. He entered private practice in 1964, in the Detroit law firm of Shaheen, Gribbs, and Brickley, where he was partner with Joseph Shaheen of Grosse Pointe Park. Gribbs ran for a seat as a Recorder's Court judge in 1966, but lost. In 1968, Gribbs was appointed sheriff of Wayne County, later winning a full four-year term. Mayoralty In 1969, he was elected mayor of Detroit, defeating opponent Richard H. Austin who later became Michigan Secretary of State. Rather than residing in the Manoogian Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of Detroit, Gribbs maintained residence in Rosedale Park, a neighborhood in northwest Detroit.