John Roger Boas (August 21, 1921 – February 10, 2017) was a San Francisco businessman and politician, long prominent in the Democratic Party in northern California. Biography Boas was born August 21, 1921, in San Francisco, the son of Benjamin Boas, a finance company executive of German descent, and Laurie Kline Boas. He went to public schools in San Francisco, including Grant Grammar School and Galileo High School, and graduated from Stanford University. He joined the army and served in Europe during World War II, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for "meritorious service" in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United States, on August 8–9, 1944, near Caudan, France. He also received the Silver Star for "gallantry in action" and five battle stars. He was a member of the 94th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armoured Division and served as the battalion adjutant. In 1950, he went to work at his father's Pontiac dealership, Boas Motor and took over as owner in 1965. In 1958, together with the future Mayor and US Senator Dianne Feinstein and Ron Pelosi, Boas was a key figure in the 1958 campaign that elected Clair Engle to the US Senate. Four years later, Boas was himself elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on which he served until 1973. An avowed liberal, he was quoted in 1968 (when he also chaired the California Democratic Party) as discouraging the influx of "Summer of Love" young people into the city: My advice to kids around the country is not to come here. There must be hippie havens other than San Francisco. In 1963, Boas began the weekly TV program, World Press, a round table discussion examining news from the US and abroad, with a panel of seventeen experts. World Press was the first national network program originating in San Francisco and was broadcast on 185 stations. After running unsuccessfully for Congress in 1972 against the Republican incumbent William S. Mailliard, Boas became Chief Administrative Officer of San Francisco under mayors George Moscone and Dianne Feinstein from 1977 to 1986. Boas' duties included overseeing a workforce of 2,500 in departments and special projects with combined operating budgets of about $200 million and capital budgets of about $1.8 million. His responsibilities included overseeing San Francisco's sewer system and garbage collection, and one of his biggest accomplishments was in 1980 with the Solid