LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rosalind “Roz” Wyman, a pioneering woman in Los Angeles city government who was instrumental in bringing the Dodgers to town and a longtime insider in California Democratic politics, has died, her family said Thursday. She was 92.
Wyman died peacefully Wednesday night at her Los Angeles home, the family statement said.
Wyman was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1953 at age 22, becoming the youngest person and only the second woman to hold the office. She also became pregnant and gave birth while in office.
Wyman is credited with a prominent role in the campaign to bring a professional sports team to Los Angeles, resulting in the Dodgers' move from Brooklyn to LA in the 1950s.
An August 2000 profile of Wyman in the Los Angeles Times quoted the late former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda: “What this lady did for baseball in this city, they should erect a monument to her.”
The Dodgers expressed condolences to Wyman's family.
“Roz paved the way for the Dodgers to come to Los Angeles, and her impact was not just on our organization, but the entire city,” the team said in a social media post.
Last month, the team named Wyman as recipient of the inaugural Tommy Lasorda I Bleed Dodger Blue Award.
On the national scene, Wyman worked on presidential campaigns and was chair and chief executive officer of the planning committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
There, she developed lasting relationships with then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, now California's senior U.S. senator, and now-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Feinstein said in a statement that Wyman was “one of my best friends and someone who made a real difference for Los Angeles and for Democratic politics.”
Feinstein said Wyman was a close adviser — “my field marshal” — for decades.
Pelosi said in a statement that Wyman was a “visionary leader” who broke down barriers for women in California politics.
“Generations of activists and elected officials respected Roz as a godmother of the the Democratic Party because she nurtured young people, mentored candidates and helped elect dozens of women to office," said Pelosi, who also credited Wyman with helping to draw the Giants baseball team from New York to San Francisco.
Wyman was married to Eugene L. Wyman, who died unexpectedly in 1973. She is survived by three children, Betty, Bob and Brad Wyman, and grandchildren. Her funeral will be private.
