Robert Clayton Henry (July 16, 1921 – September 8, 1981) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who served as Mayor of Springfield, Ohio from 1966 to 1968; however, this achievement is frequently overshadowed by fellow

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

mayor Carl B. Stokes, who was elected mayor of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

in 1967.

Biography

Henry was born in Springfield, a son of Guy Henry and Nellie Reed. He attended

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ...

in Springfield and the Cleveland College of Mortuary Science in Cleveland, Ohio for his degree in mortuary studies. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Central State University in 1968.Springfield City SchoolsAlumni Of Distinction Award Program NEWS RELEASE
/ref> Henry was elected to Springfield's city commission in 1961, and began his term in January 1962. The commission then appointed him as the city's mayor in 1966, succeeding Maurice K. Baach, the city's first

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

mayor. In 1968, he refused to run for re-election (his successor, Betty Brunk, was Springfield's first female mayor), but remained on the city commission. After finishing his term as mayor, Henry was selected as a member of a fact-finding commission to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

by order of then-president, Lyndon Johnson, and later returned in 1970 under Richard M. Nixon to inspect non-military activities. In 1972, he was the Republican Party nominee for the 60th District seat in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

, but lost in the general election. Aside from his political career, Henry was also the owner and operator of the Robert C. Henry Funeral Home, founded in 1951. He also continued to serve as head of charity drives and numerous civic organizations in the Springfield area. He was honored by a parade and banquet in Springfield on Robert C. Henry Day during

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

. A fountain in downtown Springfield was dedicated to his memory, and a retirement home complex also bears his name. Henry died in 1981 after a battle with cancer. His remains are interred in Ferncliff Cemetery Mausoleum. Henry's former son-in-law, Tim Ayers, was also a member of Springfield's city commission, and later, mayor. All three of Henry's children currently reside in Springfield, where they continue to operate the funeral home that bears his name. It is one of few, if not the only, second-generation African-American-owned and -operated businesses in Springfield.

References

External links

Robert C. Henry – Ohio History Central

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Robert C. 1921 births 1981 deaths Mayors of places in Ohio African-American mayors in Ohio American funeral directors Politicians from Springfield, Ohio Deaths from cancer in Ohio Ohio Republicans 20th-century American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians