Roman Stanley Gribbs (December 29, 1925 – April 5, 2016) was an American lawyer and politician who was mayor of Detroit from 1970 to 1974. After that, Gribbs worked as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. Gribbs was the last white mayor of Detroit. The city was becoming a majority-black city during his time as mayor. Mike Duggan was elected mayor in 2013, ending this period.

Life and career

Gribbs was born in Detroit on December 29, 1925. He grew up on a farm near Capac, Michigan. His parents were Polish immigrants who primarily worked as farmers, though his father also had a job on the Ford assembly line. After finishing high school in 1944, Gribbs joined the Army and served until 1948. He earned a degree in economics and accounting from the University of Detroit in 1952 and received a law degree from the same university in 1954. From 1955 to 1957, he taught at the university. In 1957, he became an assistant prosecutor, a role he held until 1964. In 1964, he began working as a lawyer in the Detroit law firm of Shaheen, Gribbs, and Brickley, where he was a partner with Joseph Shaheen of Grosse Pointe Park. In 1966, Gribbs ran for a seat as a Recorder’s Court judge but did not win.

In 1968, Gribbs was appointed sheriff of Wayne County and later won a full four-year term. In 1969, he was elected mayor of Detroit, defeating Richard H. Austin, who later became Michigan’s Secretary of State. Instead of living in the Manoogian Mansion, the official home of the mayor, Gribbs lived in Rosedale Park, a neighborhood in northwest Detroit.

In 1969, Gribbs created the Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets (STRESS), a secret and elite police unit. STRESS used a tactic called "decoy operation," where a police officer tried to trap potential criminals in secret operations. From the start, STRESS focused mostly on black communities and largely ignored white criminals. This led to increased tension between the black community and police. For example, in its first year, the Detroit Police Department had the highest number of civilian deaths per person in the United States. The unit was accused of conducting 500 raids without search warrants and killing 20 people within 30 months.

In 1973, Gribbs served as president of the National League of Cities. He chose not to run for re-election in 1973 and was replaced by Coleman Young, who became Detroit’s first African-American mayor in November of that year.

On July 21, 1973, Mayor Gribbs declared “Mary Wilson (of The Supremes) Day” in Detroit and gave Wilson a plaque to honor the event.

After leaving the mayor’s office, Gribbs returned to private legal work. In 1975, he became a circuit court judge. He was elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 1982 and served there until his retirement in 2001. After retiring, Gribbs moved to Northville, a suburb of Detroit, and continued working in mediation and arbitration. He also served as chairman of the board of directors of the Piast Institute, a research center focused on Polish and Polish American affairs.

Personal life

Gribbs was married to Katherine Stratis (1932–2011) from 1954 to 1982. During this time, they had four daughters (Paula, Carla, Rebecca, Elizabeth) and one son (Christopher). In 1990, he married Leola Young Barr. Gribbs died on April 5, 2016, at his home in Northville, Michigan, due to cancer. He was 90 years old at the time of his death.