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| Affiliation | Democratic |
 |
| Name | John Ferraro |
| Address |
Los Angeles, California , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
May 14, 1924 |
| Died |
April 17, 2001
(76 years) |
| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | David
Oct 29, 2021 10:49pm |
| Tags |
Widowed -
|
| Info | John Ferraro ’48, a veteran Los Angeles city councilman and an All-American Trojan football player, died of cancer April 16 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. He was 76.
Nicknamed “Big John” for his size and prowess on the USC gridiron, Ferraro served at the center of city government for 35 years, 18 of them as president of the often-fractious council. He was appointed to the council in 1966 and re-elected nine times from the 4th Council District, which stretches from the San Fernando Valley to Los Feliz and the mid-Wilshire area.
Ferraro and his wife established the Margaret and John Ferraro Endowment in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development. The fund was established to create an endowed chair in effective local government. A recipient has yet to be named. Margaret Ferraro died in 2000.
“As a member of our board of councilors, John Ferraro provided extraordinary insight into the governance of the city. He supported the school by helping students and faculty in their individual careers, in their studies and research, and in the example he set as a civic leader,” said Daniel A. Mazmanian, holder of the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean’s Chair in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
A native of the Los Angeles suburb of Cudahy, Ferraro grew up during the Great Depression and attended Bell High School, where his excellence on the football field led to a scholarship at USC. He was named All-American in 1944 and 1947 and played in three Rose Bowl games. Three decades later, the all-star tackle was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame.
His studies at USC were interrupted by service in the Naval Reserve during World War II. After the war, Ferraro resumed his USC studies, earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the USC Marshall School of Business in 1948. He established a lucrative insurance business on Wilshire Blvd. and, through shrewd real estate and stock investments, became a millionaire.
Ferraro was widely credited with helping to bring Los Angeles the 1984 Olympic Games and the 2000 Democratic Convention, and with engineering a peaceable removal of controversial police chief Daryl F. Gates a year after the police beating of Rodney King ignited racial tensions across the city. Associates described him as an “unsung hero,” a term used most recently by key players behind Staples Center, the downtown sports complex that opened in October 1999 – three years after Ferraro reportedly wooed back its frustrated developers.
He is survived by his son, Gianni Luckey.
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