David S. Cunningham Jr.
David Surmier Cunningham Jr. (June 24, 1935 – November 15, 2017) was a business executive who was elected to the Los Angeles City Council to replace Tom Bradley, who had been elected mayor that year. He represented the 10th district until 1987, when he resigned. Biography Cunningham was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Eula Mae Lawson Cunningham and David S. Cunningham Sr. He received an associate degree from Stowe Teachers College in St. Louis, Missouri, and was in the U.S. Air Force as a cartographer until 1960. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from the University of California, Riverside, in 1962; the following year he did an internship with the Coro Foundation intership program in Public Affairs after which he served as Administrative Aide to Assemblyman Charles Warren while attending Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Subsequently, he then moved to Lagos, Nigeria, to become West Africa regional manager for the DuKane Corporation. After leaving Nigeria after 2 years, he was manager of community relations for Hughes. In 1968 in concert with Ted Short, they founded the Los Angeles consulting firm of Cunningham Short and Associates. In 1969, Ron Berryman join the firm renaming the consulting group Cunningham Short Berryman and Associates. 1972 David Cunningham earned a master's degree in urban studies from Occidental College. He and his first wife, Bessie Marie, had a son— David III. With his second wife, LaFern, Leslie June and Robyn Elaine were born. He lived in Baldwin Hills, which was outside the 10th District, until June before his 1973 campaign for City Council, when he moved into an apartment in the district. In 1977, he married Sylvia Kapel. He was vice president of Cunningham, Short, Berryman and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in governmental and economic problems before his election to the City Council. A government center on west Washington Boulevard is named David S. Cunningham Jr. Multi-service Senior Center in his honor. He was president of the board of directors of the UC Riverside Alumni Association in 2010–11. He died on November 15, 2017 at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Nancy Jane (Cunningham) Freeman and Elnora (Cunningham) Hammond. He was survived by one brother, Ronald, his wife, Sylvia; three sons, David Surmier III, Sean Kingsley, and Brian Alexander, three daughters, Leslie June, Robyn Elaine, and Amber Brittany. City Council Elections In 1973, Cunningham, 38, was endorsed by Mayor Bradley for the latter's old seat on the City Council in a special election held on September 18, 1973, his chief opponents being Herbert Carter, 40, former executive secretary of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations and actor George Takei, 36, "familiar to many voters through his role of Sulu on television's 'Star Trek'" series. Other candidates included Juanita Dudley, 43, former assistant regional director of the Urban League; Jordan Daniels Jr., 48, former administrative assistant to Assemblyman Henry Waxman, and Joseph Evanns, 35, a patent attorney. The results of