| Summary: | Government administrator and foundation executive Charles R. Jordan was born on September 1, 1937 in Longview, Texas. Jordan earned his B.S. degrees in education, sociology and philosophy from Gonzaga University in 1961. He attended graduate schools in education at Loma Linda University and in public administration at the University of Southern California. From 1961 until 1970, Jordan worked for the City of Palm Springs as a recreation leader, assistant director of recreation and assistant to the city manager. In 1974, Jordan became Portland's first elected African American, serving on the city council as city fire, police and parks commissioner until 1984. For the next five years, Jordan served as parks director of Austin, Texas. He returned to Portland to oversee its parks system until 2003 when he became chairman of the Conservation Fund, a non-profit environmental organization. Jordan passed away on April 4, 2014 at age 77.
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