I had the chance to catch up with an old friend of mine, Ron Good earlier this summer. The occasion was the annual legislators and supervisor’s lunch.
I first met Ron in the summer of 1985 while we were both volunteering on a political campaign. At the time I had no idea I was talking to a living piece of Rochester history.
Ron was a pleasant man. We made small talk and each went our separate ways.
Later that summer, someone suggested that I read the book, The Remaking of a City, Rochester 1964-1984, written by Lou Buttino and Mark Hare. The book chronicled the changes in Rochester from the period just before the race riots to 1985.
I was always interested in history and given that I had just completed my internship in Assemblyman Roger Robach’s Albany office, this book really captured my attention.
Many of the people in the book were people who were still active in government, or were people I remembered from television while I was growing up.
One of the people the book mentioned was Ron Good — he was the first African-American elected to the Rochester City Council and one of the first African-Americans elected to the Monroe County Legislature.
I had the opportunity to work with Ron on several projects later in my career. He is warm, gracious and a real class act. He is a man of tremendous achievement in and out of politics. I have great respect for him and consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to know and I consider him a dear friend.
Unfortunately I don’t get to see Ron as much as I would like, but when I do it is always a special occasion.
Comments on this entry are closed.