Rice, Norman B. (Norman Blann), 1943-

<p>Future mayor of Seattle, Norman B. Rice was born in Denver, Colorado. He migrated to Seattle in 1970 to attend college. In 1972 he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and two years later a master’s degree in public administration both from the University of Washington.</p>

<p>Rice then worked as a television news reporter on Seattle’s KOMO-TV and KIXI radio. Following his media stint, he held a series of administrative positions. Rice served as assistant director of the Seattle Urban League, Executive Assistant and Director of Government Services for the Puget Sound Council of Governments, and Manager of Corporate Contributions and Social Policy at Rainier National Bank.</p>

<p>Norm Rice’s political career began in 1978 when Seattle residents elected him to fill a vacancy on the City Council. He was reelected to the Council in 1979, 1983 and 1987. Rice ran for mayor in 1985 but lost to incumbent Charles Royer, another former journalist. In 1988 he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party nomination for the 7th District, losing to former Washington state senator Jim McDermott.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 09/17/1996 WA Governor - Blanket Primary Lost 17.50% (-6.15%)</li>
<li> 11/02/1993 Seattle Mayor Won 65.35% (+30.70%)</li>
<li> 09/14/1993 Seattle Mayor - Primary Won 56.83% (+30.41%)</li>
<li> 11/07/1989 Seattle Mayor Won 56.92% (+13.85%)</li>
<li> 09/19/1989 Seattle Mayor - Primary Won 21.42% (+0.00%)</li>
<li> 09/20/1988 WA District 7 - Blanket Primary Lost 28.68% (-9.80%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1987 Seattle City Council - Pos. 1 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 11/05/1985 Seattle Mayor Lost 36.41% (-27.19%)</li>
<li> 09/17/1985 Seattle Mayor - Primary Won 34.42% (+0.00%)</li>
<li> 11/08/1983 Seattle City Council - Pos. 1 Won 80.93% (+61.86%)</li>
<li> 11/06/1979 Seattle City Council - Pos. 1 Won 81.84% (+63.68%)</li>
<li> 11/07/1978 Seattle City Council - Pos. 1 - Special Won 57.63% (+15.26%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Norman Blann Rice (born May 4, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1990 to 1997. Rice was Seattle's first, and to date only, elected African-American mayor (Bruce Harrell, who served as acting mayor from September 13, 2017 to September 18, 2017, was elected mayor in the 2021 Seattle mayoral election and will take office on January 1, 2022).</p>

<p>Rice graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, earning a bachelor's degree in communications and a Master of Public Administration from the university's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. He became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 1975, he married Dr. Constance Williams.</p>

<p>Before entering city government, Rice worked as a reporter at KOMO-TV News and KIXI radio. He served as Assistant Director of the Seattle Urban League. He next worked as Executive Assistant and Director of Government Services for the Puget Sound Council of Governments.</p>

<p>Norman B. Rice, the former mayor of Seattle from 1989-97, joined the Evans School as a distinguished practitioner-in-residence in 2006 after retiring as the CEO and president of Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. His appointment at the Evans School is to oversee the Civic Engagement for the 21st Century Project, aimed at designing a new model for civic engagement through seminars, workshops, and research.</p>

<p>He was also named CEO of The Seattle Foundation in June 2009.</p>

<p>Rice, an Evans School alum and current Advisory Board member, entered the political arena in 1978 when elected to the Seattle City Council through a special election. He served three consecutive terms on the city council until being elected mayor in 1989, becoming the first African American and first city council member in 25 years to serve as mayor of Seattle. During his two terms in office, Rice also became the first Seattle mayor to serve as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.</p>

<p>Norman Blann Rice, born on May 4, 1943 in Denver, Colorado, was the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington. Rice was Seattle’s first and only African American mayor. Rice is the youngest son of Irene Hazel Johnson (1913-1993) and Otha Patrick Rice (1916-1993). Rice’s father worked as a porter on the railroads and for the United States Postal Service. He was also the owner and operator of Rice’s Tap Room and Oven in Denver. Rice’s mother was a caterer and a bank clerk. Rice’s parents divorced when he was a teenager. His grandmother, Reverend Susie Whitman (1895-1989), Assistant Pastor at Seattle’s First A.M.E. Church, was one of the first western women ministers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. After graduating from Denver’s Manual High School in 1961, Rice attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. Distressed by the segregated housing and meal facilities and frustrated by the work load, he dropped out in his second year and went to work. Between 1963 and 1969, Rice held jobs as a hospital orderly, a meter reader and an engineer’s assistant. Rice arrived in Seattle in 1969 and restarted his education at Highline Community College and received his A.A. degree in 1970. Then, he attended the University of Washington through the Economic Opportunity Program (EOP). By 1972, Rice had earned his B.A. degree in communications and in 1974 his M.A. degree in public administration at the University of Washington.</p>

<p>Before entering city government, Rice worked as a reporter at KOMO-TV News and KIXI Radio, served as Assistant Director of the Seattle Urban League, was Executive Assistant and Director of Government Services for the Puget Sound Council of Governments and was employed as the Manager of Corporate Contributions and Social Policy at Rainier National Bank. Rice was first elected to the Seattle City Council in 1978 and reelected in 1979, 1983 and 1987, serving eleven years in all. Rice served as Mayor of Seattle from 1990 to 1997. Because of his warm personality and easy smile, he was affectionately known as “Mayor Nice.” From 1995 to 1996, Mayor Rice served as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an association of more than a thousand of America’s largest cities.</p>

<p>After nineteen years of public service in Seattle city government, Rice served as president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle from 1998 to 2004. Rice was also Vice Chairman of Capital Access, LLC. Rice returned to academia in 2007 as a visiting professor at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, where he is to lead a series of public seminars on Civic Engagement for the 21st Century.</p>