Francis Michael Jordan (born February 20, 1935) is an American politician and former police chief, who served as mayor of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

from 1992 to 1996. He is a Democrat.

Early life and education

Jordan was born in San Francisco in 1935 and graduated from Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory High School in 1953. He studied political science and government at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

during his time on the police force and graduated in 1975.

Police career and Chief of Police

Before becoming mayor, Jordan served as the Chief of the San Francisco Police Department from 1986 until 1990, at which point he resigned to run for mayor. He joined the force in 1957 and was named Chief of Police by then-Mayor

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...

in 1986.

Mayor of San Francisco

Jordan succeeded

Art Agnos Arthur Christ Agnos (born Arthouros Agnos; [] September 1, 1938) is an American politician. He served as the 39th Mayor of San Francisco, mayor of San Francisco, California from 1988 to 1992 and as the Regional Head of the United States Department ...

as the Mayor of San Francisco from 1992, until 1996. Jordan continued Agnos' campaign against the city's chapter of

Food Not Bombs Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abund ...

and introduced a controversial program called Matrix which aimed to deal with the city's homelessness problems. During his mayoral tenure Jordan played a role in converting the Presidio Army Base into part of the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...

, bringing

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which u ...

to the

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middl ...

, keeping the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

in the city and balancing the city's budget. Jordan was challenged for mayor in the 1995 mayoral election by Willie Brown, who was termed out of the State Assembly. Brown, considered by many to be one of the most powerful African-American politicians in the country, had been defeated only once in a run for public office. Brown and Jordan advanced out of a crowded field to a run-off election, where Brown was victorious. In the 1999 mayoral election, Jordan attempted a comeback bid for Mayor of San Francisco, but came in third place behind Willie Brown and

Tom Ammiano Tom Ammiano (born December 15, 1941) is an American politician and LGBT rights activist from San Francisco, California. Ammiano, a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus, served as a member of the California State Assembly from 2008 t ...

Foundation executive

Since 2001 Jordan has served as special advisor to the president of the

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is an American foundation established by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore and his wife Betty I. Moore in September 2000 to support scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements a ...

and is the foundation's principal counselor on the impact of potential grants in the nine-county Bay Area. According to the foundation's 2007 annual report, in that year nearly $53 million in grants was devoted to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Personal life

Jordan holds a degree in government and political science from the University of San Francisco, where he has served on the Business Advisory Council since 1989, and teaching credentials from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

. As of the October 2017 Northern California wildfires he lived in

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

with his wife, Wendy Paskin.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Frank 1935 births Mayors of San Francisco San Francisco Police Department chiefs Living people University of San Francisco alumni California Democrats 20th-century American politicians