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BOARD MEMBERS
Ralph Grant | Harold Jones | Victoria Jones
Frank Tucker | Bishop Bob Jackson | Robert Harris | C. Diane Howell
Ralph Grant | Harold Jones | Victoria Jones
Frank Tucker | Bishop Bob Jackson | Robert Harris | C. Diane Howell
Robert L. Harris, Esq.Robert L. Harris is the retired Vice President of Environmental, Health, Safety, Technical and Land Services at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). A native of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he attended segregated schools, he migrated to Oakland, CA in 1960 and graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1961. A graduate of Merritt College in 1963 and San Francisco State University in 1965, he was inducted into S.F. State University’s Hall of Fame on May 25, 2007. In 1972, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University Of California School Of Law at Berkeley (Boalt Hall). At Boalt Hall, he was an associate editor of the California Law Review and published two articles in the Review. Admitted to the California State Bar on December 13, 1972, he was a state bar examination grader from 1973-79.
Shortly after graduating from law school, he joined the legal staff of PG&E and practiced law there for seventeen (17) years, handling a variety of legal matters. In 1985, he became the first and only lawyer in PG&E’s history to argue and win a case for it in the United States Supreme Court. In so doing, he became the first lawyer in the nation to convince the Supreme Court that a corporation, like an individual, has negative First Amendment rights.
As a community leader, he has distinguished himself in numerous endeavors and is the recipient of countless awards from across the nation. A former president of the Charles Houston Bar Association of the San Francisco Bay Area and a member of its Hall of Fame, he served in 1979-1980 as President of the National Bar Association (NBA), the first ever from the West Coast. One of the founders of the California Association of Black Lawyers, he presided at its first meeting, and he has received its highest honor, the Loren Miller Award. Long active in Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, he served as the fraternity’s Grand Polemarch (national president) from 1991-1995. He is the recipient of a number of prestigious Awards including the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Leadership Award of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Lifetime Achievement Awards of the Charles Houston Bar Association, the California Association of Black Lawyers and the Roy C. Nichol Lifetime Achievement Award of the Downs Community Development Corporation.
As a civil rights activist, he has received the NAACP’s highest legal honor, the “William Robert Ming Award” for litigating civil rights issues. His leadership in the legal profession earned him the NBA’s highest honor, the “C. Francis Stradford Award,” and the American Bar Association’s highest Pro Bono Service Award. Because of his commitment to civic affairs, Kappa Alpha Psi, in 2005, bestowed upon him its highest honor, the “Laurel Wreath.” He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and a member of the board of directors of Alta Alliance Bank, Oakland, California.
Active in countless organizations, he is the immediate past chair the United Negro College Fund’s Bay Area Advisory Board and has received its highest honor, the “Frederick D. Patterson Award.” From 1996-2000, he was a commissioner for the Port of Oakland and previously served as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Richmond. Active in energy matters, he is a former General Counsel of the American Association of Blacks in Energy, a former board member of the U. S. EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, the Congressional Black Caucus’ National Energy Policy Commission, the California EPA Advisory Committee on Environmental Justice, and is a current member of the Board of Directors of the California League of Conservation Voters. He is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the African American Experience Fund of the National Parks Foundation. A past Sire Archon (president) of Alpha Gamma Boulé (Oakland) of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, he is the fraternity’s current Grand Sire Archon (National President).
On five (5) different occasions (1980, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995, he was selected by Ebony Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential Blacks in America.”
He is married to Glenda Newell-Harris, M.D. and is the father of four children.