Stamp of approval

Joining in the local effort to honor former Mayor Tom Bradley, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday urged the U.S. Postal Service to issue a stamp in his name.

The request was sent to the federal Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which is considering the proposal that was first made by the City Council. The committee selects 20 to 30 subjects for commemorative stamps from a list of about 50,000 suggestions a year.

Bradley was mayor of Los Angeles from 1973 to 1993 and was the first African-American mayor elected in a major city. He is credited with boosting international trade and overseeing the city's hosting of the 1984
Summer Olympics.

A native of Texas, Bradley's family moved to Los Angeles and he graduated from Poly High School and attended UCLA, where he ran track. He became a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, making
him the highest-ranking black member of the force at the time.

He went on to a successful career in city politics, winning election to the City Council in 1963 before defeating former Mayor Sam Yorty for mayor in 1973.

Bradley died Sept. 29, 1998, of a heart attack at the age of 81.