A. Reginald Eaves

A. Reginald Eaves was among the first generation of black politicians to break color barriers in cities across the nation in the wake of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was the first black administrator to the president of the Massachusetts Senate, and later became Atlanta's first public safety commissioner. Eaves also played a major part in Atlanta's shift to black political power in the 1970s and 1980s, serving as a key adviser to college classmate Maynard Jackson during Jackson's first mayoral campaign and administration.
Along the way, Eaves made political missteps – resigning as Atlanta's top cop amid a police-exam cheating scandal and serving federal prison time for an extortion conviction while a Fulton County commissioner. Despite the troubles, his greatest legacy is the unsung work he did to make life better for all city residents, friends and family said.
"He was the consummate politician but with a spiritual base," said the Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. "He didn't care that he got the credit, but that it got done. He was busy breaking down racial and political barriers to pave the way for African-Americans to become part of the decision-making process in Atlanta."
Eaves died June 9 of a stroke at a hospital in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla. He was 81. Read the news obituary