By Clifford Williams

Mr. B’s travels took him around the globe many times. He once jokingly told this writer that he had fought side-by-side with revolutionary leader Che Guevara in the rugged mountains of Bolivia. There is no doubt that he may have met Che Guevara during one of his visits to either Bolivia or Cuba.

    Along with his many accomplishments as a lawyer and publisher, Berkley also became the nation’s first African American to serve as a commissioner of a major port. During his 11 years as an Oakland Port Commissioner, including two terms as board president, Berkley was credited as the leading figure among other dignitaries who developed the Port into one of the largest and most important ports in the United States. He played a pivotal role in the Port’s conversion to containerization, keeping the facility at the forefront in handling a large volume of freight. The Oakland Port achieved world-class status under his leadership.
    One of his enterprises, Thomas L. Berkley International, represented the Shanghai Port Machinery Company in the sale of giant container cranes to ports in North America, including the cranes at the Port of Oakland that made international news when they came from China by ship under the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. Through his representation, the Chinese crane builders gained international credibility and acceptance.
    The Board of Commissioners honored Berkley by naming one of the Port’s multi-milliondollar cranes after him, recognizing his pioneering efforts to make the Oakland Port one of the most significant ports providing economic commerce in the U.S.
    Berkley was also a builder. He developed housing tracts, shopping centers and apartment complexes in Northern and Central California and Nevada. In early 1955 one of his major achievements included the building of a 250-house racially integrated tract in Las Vegas called Berkley Square, a premonition of the Oakland complex that currently bears his name.
    As a financier, Berkley cofounded and served as the first president of Beneficial Savings & Loan Association in Oakland, organized to develop a financial source for people of limited means and help lead banks and other Bay Area financial institutions to make their resources available to disadvantaged people.
    In addition, he was a member of the board of directors of the Commercial Bank of San Francisco and a director of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company. He also acted as a special consultant to the Office of Economic Opportunity Legal Services Department of California under then-Governor Ronald Reagan.
    He was a guest at the White House on several occasions during the Kennedy Administration and became a member of the President’s Club in 1965. He was an Honorary Consul of Senegal, West Africa. Berkley was also active in Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign.
    His memberships, distinguished recognitions and directorships are far too extensive to enumerate. However, it is notable to mention that Berkley was a cofounder of the West Coast Black Publishers Association, a member of the San Francisco Commonwealth Club, a charter member of the San Francisco World Trade Club and a lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
    Thomas L. Berkley, a renaissance man whose lifetime of achievements is unparallel to those of mortal men, you are truly missed.