Former Wilmington mayors James Baker and James Sills Jr., and Mayor Mike Purzycki in 2019.
It is my pleasure to wish a very happy 90th birthday to former Wilmington Mayor James H. Sills, Jr. today.
A native South Carolinian, Jim moved to Wilmington in 1959 and had an immediate impact on his new home, among other things serving as president of the Wilmington NAACP, founding director of the Urban Agent Program, and later founder of the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council. He successfully supervised the desegregation of Wilmington’s schools in 1978, taught at the University of Delaware, served on Wilmington City Council, and from 1984-1992 represented the Third District in the Delaware House of Representatives. In 1992 he became Wilmington’s first African American mayor, serving in that capacity until 2001.
Congratulations, Jim, on a long, productive life of service and accomplishment, and may you enjoy many more years of good health and fond memories.
