Henry L. Marsh III, the first Black mayor of Richmond and a figure who embodied the rise of African American power in the city, died Thursday night at 91. Marsh, a civil rights lawyer, was Richmond’s mayor from 1977 to 1982. He represented Richmond in the state Senate for 22 years, from 1992 to 2014.

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Henry Marsh III, Richmond’s first African American mayor, has died at the age of 91. According to the Library of Virginia, Henry Marsh III was born in 1933 and elected to Richmond City Council in 1966, where he served as vice mayor from 1970 until his election in 1977 as the first African American mayor of Richmond.