Former CA Lawmaker, US Rep. Mervyn Dymally Dies Mervyn Dymally, the former California assemblyman, senator and lieutenant governor who also served in Congress for more than a decade, has died. A former press secretary for the Democratic lawmaker said Dymally died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 86. Jasmine Cannick said Dymally's health had been in decline. In a political career that started in 1963, Dymally served in state office for more than two decades and spent another 12 years in Congress representing the South Los Angeles area. The Trinidad-born Dymally became the state's first black lieutenant governor when he was elected in 1975. Dymally was survived by his wife Alice, a son and a daughter.