The current section is News & Media

In Memoriam: Mary King

Mary King steered the Bay Bridge East Span design process through choppy waters while she was an MTC commissioner and Alameda County supervisor, in the end building consensus on an iconic design.
Credit
Noah Berger

The MTC Commission is adjourning its monthly meeting today in honor of former MTC Commissioner Mary King, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 69. King served on the Commission from 1997 to 2000 and gained prominence on a regional scale in her role as chair of MTC’s Bay Bridge Design Task Force during that same period.

Mary had a long and productive career in the public policy arena, serving as chief of staff for former state legislator Bill Lockyer and former Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson before becoming the first African-American woman elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, serving as its president for two years. “In the transportation arena perhaps her greatest contribution was helping to hammer out a consensus on the design of the new Bay Bridge East Span, which she accomplished as chair of MTC’s Bay Bridge Design Task Force,” said MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger. “Under Mary’s leadership, the Task Force marshaled the political will to not only bring an end to the second-guessing about the bridge design but also to build the East Span’s bicycle and pedestrian path.”

Upon leaving public office in 2001, Ms. King became a private consultant specializing in government affairs, regional housing, land-use and transportation issues. In 2004, she was recruited to become the assistant general manager for Communications and External Affairs at AC Transit, and, in 2009, she was appointed to head the transit district as the interim general manager. She retired from the agency in early 2012 and was later appointed to fill a vacancy on the BART Board of Directors in August 2012.

In recognition of her leadership role with the East Span, King last year was honored with the Grand Award in MTC’s Excellence in Motion Awards Program. “Every time I see the bridge, I’m very proud, I’m very touched, I’m very happy that I was able to be a part of it,” she said in an interview in 2014.

Mary King, Grand Award Winner

Submit your comment

In order to receive a reply to your comment, please provide an email address.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.