Governor Jay Nixon has appointed Richard H. Gray, of St. Louis, to the St. Louis City Board of Police Commissioners. The board is responsible for oversight of the operations of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
Gray is executive director of the St. Louis Gateway Sports Foundation, recently taking the helm from his father Earl Wilson Jr. From 1992 to 2007, Gray was an executive with the Keefe Group, a leading supplier of products for correctional commissaries, and was a sales and management executive for several St. Louis radio stations, including KMOX, KLOU and KASP.
He was a member of the Presidential Honor Guard from 1971 to 1975 while serving in the U.S. Navy as was the leader of the Presidential Drill Team. He was one of the members of the Honor Guard watch in Independence after the death of former President Harry Truman. Gray served as a police officer for the City of Berkeley after leaving the Navy.
Last week, former Judge Michael Calvin advised Nixon that he wished to have his name withdrawn from consideration for the police board, opening up a seat that will be filled by Gray if his nomination is confirmed by the Missouri Senate.
There currently are two open seats on the five-member board, which consists of four gubernatorial appointees and the mayor. Julius K. Hunter’s term expired in January and Vincent J. Bommarito resigned in February amid scandal that he intervened in the arrest of a nephew.
Dr. Michael Gerdine, a chiropractor, has been appointed but not confirmed.
If Gerdine and Gray are both confirmed, it will mark the first time a majority of appointees to the board were African-American. Nixon’s most recent appointee, attorney Battye Battle-Turner, is black.
There have previously been African-American board majorities when St. Louis’ two black mayors, Freeman Bosley Jr. and then Clarence Harmon, served on the board while each was mayor.