Tom Berkley: Black Publisher Dies

East Bay Bureau, Posted: Jan 13, 2002

Tom Berkley, one of the few African American newspaper publishers who owned his own printing press and ao-founder of the West Coast Black Publishers Association, died at his home in Oakland on December 27, 2001. He was 86.

The publisher of the Post Newspaper Group - which includes The Oakland Post and papers in Richmond and Berkeley and El Mundo - had diabetes. "I like being able to call my own shots and not have anyone print what I want to print," he used to say from his Oakland office on 20th street. After running unsuccessfully for the Oakland City Council he realized the power of the press and started his newspaper business - 38 years ago.

The popular attorney and businessman was the first Black ever to serve as a Port of Oakland Commissioner and held the post for 12 years. When Thomas Lucius Berkley was born on August 9, 1915, he became the seventh son of a seventh son, and therefore it was predicted that he would have good fortune. Mr. Berkley's parents, Braxton and Sophia Berkley, decided in 1920, that segregated schools in southern Illinois were not what they wanted for their children. So, they bought railway tickets for seven of their eight children (their oldest daughter was already married) and moved the family to California where they settled in Imperial Valley for six years.

From there, they moved to Fullerton where they reared their children on a ranch, until they each set up homes of their own. Four of the children were graduated from college, three of whom earned advanced degrees. In 1938, Berkley graduated from UCLA where he had distinguished himself as an academic achiever and as a world-class track and field star. Mr. Berkley then worked his way through the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall, and Hastings School of Law graduating in 1942, with a Doctorate of Law Degree.

After practicing law for a year he was drafted into the United States Army as a Private and rose quickly in the ranks to a Second Lieutenant in the Transportation Corps, of the 847th Port Company. Following World War II, Mr. Berkley resumed the practice of law by organizing a new firm in the City of Berkeley under the name of Thomas Berkley & Associates. Included in the firm was Terry Francois, Joseph Kennedy, Clinton White, and many others attorneys who went on to have distinguished careers in the practice of law throughout California.

Berkley's firm was distinguished as the largest racially integrated, bilingual law firm in the United States. The firm specialized in personal injury litigation in both plaintiff and defense insurance cases. His firm also practiced business, corporate, and governmental law, while serving some of California's largest corporations. However, Mr. Berkley always instituted policies to ensure that his firm delivered legal services to indigents who needed representation. In 1972, Mr. Berkley purchased a 35,000 square foot building in downtown Oakland and moved his law firm to its present location at 630 20th Street, which was known as Berkley & Rhodes.

It currently houses the Post Newspaper Group, including its printing presses. Professionally, he was member of the National Bar Association, American Bar Association and the State Bar of California. As a member of the Alameda County Bar Association, he formerly served a three-year term as a member of its Board of Directors. He was also a member of the Charles Houston Bar Association. And was inducted into the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame. Besides championing the rights of underprivileged people through his profession as a lawyer, Berkley was active in the construction industry, in finance, politics, newspaper publishing and printing, and in a wide range of human services.

As a builder and developer, he developed housing tracts, shopping centers and apartment complexes in Northern and Central California and in Nevada. One of his projects in 1955 was a 250-house racially integrated tract in Las Vegas called "Berkley Square." He often used his columns in The Post to speak out for justice for Blacks. As a publisher, he founded, edited and owned the Post Newspaper Group, a chain of six tri-weekly English and Spanish newspapers, which serve the Bay area region and Northern California. The polices and influence of these papers resulted in Berkley's being invited to Mexico in 1966 and being cited there for outstanding contributions to intercultural understanding between Mexicans and African-American people. He also spoke Spanish fluently.


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