Cockrell, Lila, 1922-2019

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li>05/04/1991 San Antonio Mayor Lost 20.68% (-10.27%)</li>
<li>05/06/1989 San Antonio Mayor Won 59.63% (+27.90%)</li>
<li>04/07/1979 San Antonio Mayor Won 54.38% (+23.02%)</li>
<li>04/16/1977 San Antonio Mayor - Runoff Won 59.16% (+18.32%)</li>
<li>04/02/1977 San Antonio Mayor Won 39.15% (+7.93%)</li>
<li>04/15/1975 San Antonio Mayor - Runoff Won 53.97% (+7.94%)</li>
<li>04/01/1975 San Antonio Mayor Won 47.46% (+20.97%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Lila Cockrell, former San Antonio mayor (1976–1981), was the first woman mayor of a major American city.</p>

<p>During her years in city government, she served nine years (1963–1970 and 1973–1975) on the San Antonio City Council, was chairman of the Alamo Area Council of Governments, chairman of the Firemen’s and Policemen’s Fund Board of Trustees, and member of the city's public service, transit and water boards. As a member of the San Antonio City Council, Mrs. Cockrell worked to establish the first Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women.</p>

<p>Active in the League of Women Voters, Mrs. Cockrell served as president of the Dallas chapter (1953–1955) and president of the San Antonio chapter (1959–1963). She served on six state boards and commissions under four governors and was elected the first woman president of the Texas Municipal League.</p>

<p>Lila May Banks Cockrell (January 19, 1922 – August 29, 2019) was an American politician who served twice as mayor of San Antonio, Texas. During World War II, she served in the WAVES branch of the United States Navy. She served as President of the Dallas and San Antonio chapters of the League of Women Voters during the 1950s.</p>

<p>After serving for a decade on the city council, including her 1969 service as the city's first woman mayor Pro Tem, Cockrell was elected in 1975 to the first of four two-year terms as Mayor of San Antonio. At the time of her inauguration, San Antonio's population gave her the status of the mayor over the largest American city being governed by a woman. She is often listed as the first woman in the United States to be elected mayor of a major metropolis. However, Bertha Knight Landes was mayor of Seattle 1926–1928. Cockrell's first three terms ran consecutively 1975–1981. At the end of her third term, she chose not to run because of the illness of her husband Sidney Earl Cockrell Jr. She was succeeded by Henry Cisneros. Widowed in 1986, she was elected to her fourth term as mayor in 1989 when Cisneros left office. Lila Cockrell was a registered Republican.</p>

<p>After retiring from political office, Cockrell served on many municipal commissions and civic boards. In 2013, she retired as president of the San Antonio Parks Foundation, a position she had held since 1998.</p>