Richard E. Jackson

Richard Ernest Jackson Jr. (born July 18, 1945) is an American politician, civil servant, and teacher from the State of New York. A Republican, Jackson has served as New York State Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, as Mayor of the City of Peekskill, New York, and as a member of the Peekskill City Council. He is notable for being the first African-American mayor of a city in the history of the State of New York.

Biography
Jackson was born in Peekskill on July 18, 1945. He and his wife, the former Ruth Sokolinsky, have two daughters. Jackson has taught mathematics at Peekskill High School.

A three-term Peekskill City Councilmember, Jackson was appointed Mayor of Peekskill in December 1984 by a unanimous vote of the City Council when the previous mayor (future New York Governor George Pataki) stepped down to take another position. Jackson made history as the first African-American Mayor of Peekskill. According to The New York Times, Jackson was also the first African-American mayor of a city in the State of New York. A Republican, Jackson won a full term as mayor in 1985; he later "'won re-election to two successive terms with the largest pluralities in the city’s 51-year history'". He continued to teach mathematics at Peekskill High School while serving in his part-time mayoral post. Jackson stepped down from his mayoral post on April 24, 1991. 

In 1995, then-Governor Pataki appointed Jackson to the post of New York State Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. Jackson served as Commissioner from 1995 to 2000.

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Category:1945 births
Category:Living people
Category:State cabinet secretaries of New York (state)
Category:New York (state) Republicans
Category:Mayors of places in New York (state)
Category:African-American people in New York (state) politics
Category:African-American mayors
Category:People from Peekskill, New York