Marvin Braude

Marvin Braude (August 11, 1920 – December 7, 2005) was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for 32 years, between 1965 and 1997—the third-longest-serving council member in the history of the city.

During his tenure on the Los Angeles City Council, he led opposition to new housing construction and development as part of a "slow-growth movement."

Braude was born on August 11, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois, the only son of Benjamin and Rose Braude, and attended the University of Illinois in 1937.

He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in political science.

He was a research assistant with the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics in 1941 and an instructor in social science at the University of Chicago in 1942.

Braude was married to Marjorie Sperry of Chicago on September 26, 1948; they went to Yosemite on their honeymoon and decided then to move to California, which they did in 1951.

She became a medical doctor and specialized in psychiatry.

The couple moved to the Brentwood district of Los Angeles in 1952.

They had two children, Liza, born in May 1953, and Ann, born in July 1955.

Marjorie Braude, who became head of the Los Angeles Domestic Violence Task Force, died one month after her husband.

He was co-founder and first president of the Santa Monica Mountains Regional Park Association, founder of Capital for Small Business in Los Angeles and president of the Crestwood Hills Association.

He was described as being "professorial, cranky and wonkish . . . abrupt and cantakerous, especially with those who stood in his way."

"The polyester suits he ordered from Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogs were one of his trademarks. He brought health food in plastic containers to the banquets he was obliged to attend."

He owned and operated small businesses and a small investment firm until he was elected to the City Council in 1965.

In April 1965, Braude took on conservative incumbent Karl L. Rundberg in Los Angeles City Council District 11 and finished the primary election with less than half the votes of Rundberg (11,033 against 22,397), but in the May 1965 final, a "wave of public indignation over plans to carve a major highway across the Santa Monica Mountains" carried him into office: he beat the veteran Rundberg by 22,023 votes to 18,976.

He proposed Proposition U, a successful 1986 ballot initiative, that the Los Angeles Times called "the largest one-shot effort to limit development in the city's history."

He was “a champion of bike paths,” advocated for protecting the open space of the Santa Monica Mountains, and successfully pushed the city to ban smoking in restaurants and government buildings.

In 1988, the Los Angeles Times described him as "council's strongest critic of growth."

In 1996 he said he would begin to donate large sums of money from his $100,000 salary and his extensive financial portfolio to fund city projects within his district if he were reelected.

He decided, however, to retire instead of campaigning.

Braude was not seriously threatened in succeeding elections until 1997, when he faced "a strong challenge" from Cindy Miscikowski, his former chief of staff, among others.

In September 1997 Braude became at the age of 76 a "distinguished practitioner in residence" at the University of Southern California, giving lectures and advising students on research projects and papers.

The Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park in Tarzana, California, the Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center at the Government Center in Van Nuys and the Marvin Braude Bike Trail (formerly the South Bay and Santa Monica Bike Paths) are named after him.

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Braude died at the age of 84 on December 7, 2005, in Rancho Mirage, California, after breaking his leg in a fall and contracting pneumonia while in the hospital.

He chose to be cremated, said his daughter Ann, because he believed using open space for cemeteries was "poor land-use policy."

A memorial service was held at University Synagogue in Brentwood, Los Angeles, and donations were asked for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.