http://www.sacbee.com/2014/08/
Grantland Johnson, a trailblazing Sacramento politician who rose in rank while staying in touch with his community roots as a city councilman, county supervisor and top health official in state and federal government, died Tuesday at 65.
He died at home from complications related to diabetes and congestive heart failure, said his wife, Lee.
As word of his death spread, Johnson was widely praised in the community as a thoughtful leader with keen political instincts and a passion to help people in need. Although often viewed through the prism of race – as the first African American elected to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors – he was seen as a conciliator who worked with disparate interests in search of solutions to common problems.
Appointed to the Sacramento Regional Transit board in 1976, he defeated incumbent Blaine Fisher to be elected to the Sacramento City Council in 1983. He represented disenfranchised neighborhoods across the American River from City Hall – including Del Paso Heights, where he grew up and got his start in politics as an 11-year-old handing out fliers for the first African American woman on the community’s school board.
He won a close race for county supervisor in 1986 and was re-elected to a second term four years later. He left local government in 1993 to serve in the Clinton administration as Western regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Six years later, he was tapped by Gov. Gray Davis to be director of the California Health and Welfare Agency. He served in the state Cabinet until Davis was recalled in 2003.
Outside the halls of power, Johnson was visible on the streets of Sacramento as a politician, activist and resident. He campaigned for office door-to-door and spoke at neighborhood forums. He walked picket lines and staffed voter-registration booths.
“If you were looking for Grantland and could not find him, chances were that he was at the movies,” Dickinson said in a written statement. “It was his refuge and a source of inspiration.”
In addition to his wife, the former Lee Turner, Johnson is survived by a daughter, Patrice, from a marriage to Charlot Bolton that ended in divorce; and two sisters, Catherine Harris and Rose Morris.
Visitation is planned Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at Chapel of the Chimes, 4701 Marysville Blvd., Sacramento. A service is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Antioch Progressive Church, 7650 Amherst St., Sacramento, with a reception immediately following at the church.
