Meyera Oberndorf

{{Infobox officeholder

|image = Meyera Oberndorf (5853384487).jpg

|office = 23rd Mayor of Virginia Beach

|term_start = July 1, 1988

|term_end = December 31, 2008

|predecessor = Robert G. Jones

|successor = Will Sessoms

|order3 = Vice Mayor of Virginia Beach

|term_start3 = July 1, 1986

|term_end3 = June 30, 1988

|predecessor3 = Reba McClanan

|successor3 = Robert Fentress

|order4 = Member of the Virginia Beach City Council, At Large

|term_start4 = July 1, 1976

|term_end4 = June 30, 1988

|predecessor4 =

|successor4 = Will Sessoms

|order5 = Member, Virginia Beach Public Library Board

|term_start5 = 1966

|term_end5 = June 30, 1976

|birth_date = {{birth date|1941|02|10}}

|birth_place = Newport News, Virginia, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|2015|03|13|1941|02|10}}

|death_place = Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.

|spouse = Roger Oberndorf

|children =

|profession = Public servant

|party = Democratic

|alma_mater = Old Dominion University (BA)

|website =

}}

Meyera E. Oberndorf (February 10, 1941 – March 13, 2015) was the 23rd Mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia. She was Virginia Beach's longest-serving mayor, and she previously served as the city's vice mayor. She was the city's first female mayor and was the first woman elected to public office in the more than 300-year history of Virginia Beach or its predecessor, Princess Anne County.{{cite web

| url = http://www.vbgov.com/vgn.aspx?vgnextoid=0e8d340df304c010VgnVCM1000006310640aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f046b4d03baed010VgnVCM1000006310640aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

| title = Meyera E. Oberndorf - Mayor

| access-date = 2008-02-24

| publisher = City of Virginia Beach

| archive-url= http://web.archive.org/web/20070514224525/http://www.vbgov.com/vgn.aspx?vgnextoid=0e8d340df304c010VgnVCM1000006310640aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f046b4d03baed010VgnVCM1000006310640aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

| archive-date = 14 May 2007

}}

Life and career

Though she was Virginia Beach's first directly elected mayor, her role was primarily to serve as the chair during City Council meetings, of which she had been a member since 1976, and to officiate at a wide array of ceremonial functions. This is because Virginia Beach has a council-manager form of government. Virginia Beach is the largest populated city in the Commonwealth of Virginia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coopercenter.org/virginia-population-estimates|title=Virginia Population Estimates|website=demographics.coopercenter.org|language=en-US|access-date=7 March 2024}}

In 1989, prior to an annual end of the summer event sponsored by African American college students, Oberndorf announced that the event had grown too large to handle and was not welcome in the city.{{cite news |url=http://articles.philly.com/1989-09-10/news/26100185_1_greekfest-black-youths-disturbance |title=Why Virginia Beach Happened |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=2013-09-01 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130618080721/http://articles.philly.com/1989-09-10/news/26100185_1_greekfest-black-youths-disturbance |archive-date=18 June 2013 |date=10 September 1989 |first=Roy H. |last=Campbell}} Combined with city officials denying use of public facilities for the event and new ordinances which led to the arrests and citations of hundreds of attendees for mostly minor offenses such as jay-walking and loud music, Oberndorf's statement heightened racial tensions which exploded with the "Greekfest" riots in which over 100 beachfront stores were damaged. Despite her claim that NAACP assertions of poor racial relations between the city and African Americans were "poppycock,"{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/05/us/virginia-beach-is-quiet-after-violence.html |title=Virginia Beach Is Quiet After Violence |work=The New York Times |access-date=7 March 2024 |date=5 September 1989}} city actions in 1989 and in the years following so damaged race relations that it wasn't until two decades later, at the tail end of Obendorf's long-time mayoralty, that Virginia Beach again began to have success drawing large numbers of African Americans to the resort beachfront.{{cite news |url=http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/painful-legacy-1989s-greekfest-endures |title=The painful legacy of 1989's Greekfest endures |work=The Virginian-Pilot |access-date=2013-09-01 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130526220829/http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/painful-legacy-1989s-greekfest-endures |archive-date=26 May 2013 |date=September 8, 2009 |first=Aaron |last=Applegate}}

In April 2007, Oberndorf was criticized by Fox News Channel commentator Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly claimed she mishandled a situation involving illegal immigrant Alfredo Ramos, who was accused and later convicted of causing a fatal drunk driving crash on March 30, 2007. O'Reilly said that Virginia Beach should have reported Ramos to Immigration and Customs Enforcement once they realized he was in the country illegally, since he had prior alcohol-related convictions, including DUI and public drunkenness. However, Virginia Beach didn't learn of the immigrant's status until after the crash.

On November 5, 2008, Oberndorf was defeated by Will Sessoms, ending her two decade run as mayor. On December 10, 2008, before her term expired, the city council unanimously voted to rename the city's Central Library the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library.{{cite web|url=http://www.vbgov.com/vgn.aspx?vgnextoid=3525d64b9bd1e110VgnVCM100000190c640aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0b81fd67f3ad9010VgnVCM100000870b640aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default|title=Central Library Renamed for Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf|date=December 10, 2008|publisher=City of Virginia Beach|access-date=September 18, 2010 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20081217213324/http://www.vbgov.com/vgn.aspx?vgnextoid=3525d64b9bd1e110VgnVCM100000190c640aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0b81fd67f3ad9010VgnVCM100000870b640aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default |archive-date=17 December 2008}}

On March 4, 2013, the Diocese of Richmond and Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia presented Oberndorf with the Bishop's Humanitarian Award for her public service.{{cite web|url=http://wavy.com/blog/2013/03/06/a-special-honor-for-a-special-lady/|website=WAVY-TV|access-date=27 February 2017 |title=A Special Honor for a Special Lady |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20160716120356/http://wavy.com/blog/2013/03/06/a-special-honor-for-a-special-lady/ |archive-date=16 July 2016 |date=6 March 2013 |first=Nicole |last=Livas}} She was posthumously named one of the Virginia Women in History for 2016.{{cite web|url=https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/119|title=Meyera Fran Ellenson Oberndorf (1941 - 2015)|access-date=7 March 2024 |website= Virginia Changemakers}}

Subsequent career

After leaving her position as mayor, Oberndorf appeared in a series of commercials for ABNB Federal Credit Union in 2009. Governor Tim Kaine appointed her to the Virginia State Library Board in 2009 and she served there until resigning in December 2012.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/broadside/2013-Spring.pdf |magazine=Broadside |publisher=Library of Virginia |date=Spring 2013 |title=Two Library Board Members Are Greatly Missed |first=Sandra G. |last=Treadway}}

Personal life

Oberndorf's husband, Roger, died from complications of a brain injury in October 2012. Following her husband's death, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She was also a breast cancer survivor and had two daughters.{{cite news|url=http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/former-va-beach-mayors-new-challenge-alzheimers|title=Former Va. Beach mayor's new challenge: Alzheimer's |work=The Virginian-Pilot|access-date=23 June 2016 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130215025053/http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/former-va-beach-mayors-new-challenge-alzheimers |archive-date=15 February 2013 |date=10 February 2013 |first=Margaret |last=Matray}} Oberndorf died at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2015, at the age of 74.{{cite web|last1=Fox|first1=Andy|title=Former VB mayor Meyera Oberndorf dies at age 74|url=http://wavy.com/2015/03/13/former-vb-mayor-meyera-oberndorf-dies-at-age-74/|website=wavy.com|access-date=13 March 2015 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20150314184125/https://www.wavy.com/2015/03/13/former-vb-mayor-meyera-oberndorf-dies-at-age-74/ |archive-date=14 March 2015 |date=13 March 2015}}