Krewson, Lyda, 1953-

Lyda Krewson (born November 14, 1953) is an American accountant and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 46th mayor of St. Louis, Missouri from 2017 to 2021. Krewson was the first woman to hold the office.

Born near Davenport, Iowa, Krewson moved with her family to St. Joseph, Missouri, then Fairfield, Illinois, before settling in Moberly, Missouri, where she graduated from high school. In 1974, she earned a degree in psychology and a special education minor from Northeast Missouri State University. Krewson then moved to St. Louis, where she earned an accounting degree at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Krewson is a Certified Public Accountant. She worked for Deloitte for seven years then served as the Chief Financial Officer of PGAV, an international design and planning firm.

From 1997 to 2017, Krewson served as the alderman of St. Louis's 28th ward. While alderman of St. Louis's 28th ward, Krewson took out a home equity loan in 2003 to help fund an unsuccessful campaign against Missouri's concealed carry law, which passed. In 2011, she led the city's successful effort to pass a smoking ban. With the retirement of four-term mayor Francis Slay, Krewson entered a crowded seven-way 2017 Democratic primary, the real contest in this heavily Democratic city, winning with 32 percent of the vote. In the general election on April 4, she defeated Republican candidate Andrew Jones with 67% of the vote.

As Mayor, Krewson worked to reduce panhandling in the Central West End neighborhood by introducing the REAL Change Program, which encourages social services for those in need. In August 2019, Krewson agreed to sponsor a one-year contract with Cure Violence in response to community pressure and an increased city murder rate. Previous measures from Krewson's administration had focused on increasing policing, while Cure Violence trains civilians in crisis intervention and community based solutions. In a public briefing broadcast live on Facebook on June 26, 2020, Krewson read aloud the names and addresses of multiple constituents, including a minor, who had signed a petition in favor of budgetary changes that involved redirecting all the money spent on the police department to social services, affordable housing and Cure Violence. As a result of the fallout from this, Krewson announced that she would not seek a second term as Mayor in November 2020.