Lee R. Brand (born April 5, 1949)
is an American politician and businessman who is the 25th mayor of
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
. He took office as the successor for
Ashley Swearengin on January 3, 2017.
Upon inauguration, Brand became the oldest to assume the mayoralty of Fresno beating the previous holder
Dr. Chester A. Rowell by 3 years and 21 days.
Early life
Brand was born in The Dalles, Oregon. His father was Archie L. Brand better known as ‘Brandy,’ of English descent, and his mother was Florence G. Trosi. His parents, his brother and he lived in a small motel room with no indoor bathroom. Archie and Florence worked for his grandfather Archie M. Brand better known as A.M. as dishwashers and general labor at the café, gas station, motel and small zoo A.M. operated.
Brand's mother was from Fresno, and his maternal grandfather and grandmother, Ralph Trosi and Pierina Trosi immigrated to the U.S. from
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
.
The Brand family moved to Fresno when A.M. no longer ran the roadside business and started a career as a sea lion trainer, touring the county with his ‘Sparky the Seal’ act. Brand's family arrived in Fresno in 1954 where he and his brother began Elementary school.
Growing up in a poor household, Brand began committing petty theft while in elementary school. While in junior high, Brand and some friends were arrested for breaking and entering several schools and served time in the juvenile hall work program. In 1964, when Brand was only 15, his father died in a plane crash.
At
Theodore Roosevelt High School in Fresno, Brand was an average student who competed on the cross country and track teams and ran a 1:59 half-miler in his junior year. He became a voracious reader is senior year and his grades started improving.
After graduating in 1967, Brand briefly attended
Fresno City College
Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...
before enlisting in the
California Air National Guard
The California Air National Guard (CA ANG) is one of three components of the California National Guard, a reserve of the United States Air Force, and part of the National Guard of the United States.
As militia units, the units in the California ...
.
After less than half a year in active duty as a technician, Brand returned to Fresno and engaged in a lifestyle he described as "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" before experiencing a "calling from God" in 1971. Brand began taking heavy course loads at Fresno City College and later
California State University, Fresno
California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...
(Fresno State) and graduated in 1973 from Fresno State summa cum laude.
Brand paid for his education by working at a local
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
and doing weekend patrol for the California Air National Guard.
He later received an honorable discharge from the Guard.
Business career
Brand completed his
M.P.A. at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
in 1974 via a project instead of thesis.
From 1974 to 1978, Brand was an assistant mental health administrator for
Madera County
Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera.
Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...
. On the side, Brand
flipped houses and eventually opened a real estate business, Brand-Glenn & Associates, and car stereo store named The Sound Machine.
Brand's real estate business became Brand & Associates in 1981, and Brand co-founded Westco Equities in 1987.
Political career
In 1996, Brand managed the successful campaign of Fresno City Council candidate Ken Steitz.
After an unsuccessful campaign for the city council in 2000, Brand began serving on the Fresno Planning Commission as an appointee of mayor
Alan Autry
Carlos Alan Autry Jr. (also known for a time as Carlos Brown; born July 31, 1952), is an American actor, politician, and former National Football League player. During his brief football career, he was known as Carlos Brown. He played the ro ...
.
Brand won election to the City Council in 2008 for the northeast Fresno seat previously held by Jerry Duncan.
He was re-elected to a second four term in 2012. During his eight years on the Fresno City Council, he wrote 19 legislative acts focused on fiscal management and better
government. In 2011, he served as the Council President.
In 2016, Brand ran for the Mayor of the City of Fresno. He finished second in the primary and won the November runoff. He was sworn in as the 25th Mayor of Fresno on January 3, 2017.
Post-Political career
Lee Brand concluded his term as Mayor of Fresno on January 5, 2021. After finishing his political career, he began researching his family ancestry finding surprising information about his father and grandfather.
This motivated him to write a book about family relationships through generations. His debut novel ''Discovering the Family I Never Knew'', is a fictional book inspired by real people and events in his life.
Electoral history
See also
Lee Brand, Author website*
List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Lee
1949 births
21st-century American politicians
American people of English descent
American people of Italian descent
California Republicans
California State University, Fresno alumni
Fresno City College alumni
Living people
National Guard (United States) officers
Mayors of Fresno, California
People from The Dalles, Oregon
University of Southern California alumni
Military personnel from California
Military personnel from Oregon