Remove Ads

Richard Duane Hongisto

Photo added byRon Moody

Adding photos to this memorial is not allowed.

Photo requests are not allowed for this cemetery.

Richard Duane HongistoFamous memorial

Birth
Bovey, Itasca County, Minnesota, USA
Death
4 Nov 2004 (aged 67)
San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA
Burial
Colma,San Mateo County,California,USAGPS-Latitude: 37.6686592, Longitude: -122.4462433
Plot
Section E, Row 20B, Grave 3
Memorial ID
32022559View Source

Adding photos to this memorial is not allowed.

Photo requests are not allowed for this cemetery.

Law Enforcement Official. His controversial career spanned three states over 30 years. A native of Minnesota, Hongisto moved with his family to San Francisco in 1942. In 1961 he joined the San Francisco Police Department where he soon earned the reputation of being an activist. Ten years later he was elected Sheriff of San Francisco County and served as such until his resignation in 1977. In April of that year he gained attention when, as sheriff, he was arrested and jailed for five days for contempt of court after refusing to enforce a court order to evict elderly residents from Chinatown's International Hotel. After his resignation, he moved to Ohio where he was appointed Chief of the Cleveland Police Department by then Mayor Dennis Kucinich; he held the post for three months before being fired. In 1979 he was appointed Commissioner of the New York State prison system, but resigned after the New York State Senate refused to confirm his appointment. Returning to San Francisco, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1980, serving until he was elected city assessor in 1990. After failing to be elected mayor of San Francisco in 1991, he was appointed Chief of the San Francisco Police Department in 1992 by then Mayor Frank Jordan, himself a former chief. Shortly after his appointment, San Francisco was rocked by riots caused by the verdict in the Rodney King case. Chief Hongisto responded by ordering the arrests of hundreds of protestors. When the San Francisco Bay Times published an unflattering image of him, members of the SFPD confiscated thousands of copies of the paper. Receiving full blame for the department's actions, Hongisto was fired after serving only 45 days as chief.
Law Enforcement Official. His controversial career spanned three states over 30 years. A native of Minnesota, Hongisto moved with his family to San Francisco in 1942. In 1961 he joined the San Francisco Police Department where he soon earned the reputation of being an activist. Ten years later he was elected Sheriff of San Francisco County and served as such until his resignation in 1977. In April of that year he gained attention when, as sheriff, he was arrested and jailed for five days for contempt of court after refusing to enforce a court order to evict elderly residents from Chinatown's International Hotel. After his resignation, he moved to Ohio where he was appointed Chief of the Cleveland Police Department by then Mayor Dennis Kucinich; he held the post for three months before being fired. In 1979 he was appointed Commissioner of the New York State prison system, but resigned after the New York State Senate refused to confirm his appointment. Returning to San Francisco, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1980, serving until he was elected city assessor in 1990. After failing to be elected mayor of San Francisco in 1991, he was appointed Chief of the San Francisco Police Department in 1992 by then Mayor Frank Jordan, himself a former chief. Shortly after his appointment, San Francisco was rocked by riots caused by the verdict in the Rodney King case. Chief Hongisto responded by ordering the arrests of hundreds of protestors. When the San Francisco Bay Times published an unflattering image of him, members of the SFPD confiscated thousands of copies of the paper. Receiving full blame for the department's actions, Hongisto was fired after serving only 45 days as chief.

Bio by:G.Photographer

How famous was Richard Duane Hongisto?

What was Richard Duane famous for?

Current rating:3.72727 out of 5 stars

33 votes

Sign-in to cast your vote.

  • Maintained by: Find a Grave
  • Originally Created by:G.Photographer
  • Added: Dec 7, 2008
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32022559/richard_duane-hongisto: accessed), memorial page for Richard Duane Hongisto (16 Dec 1936–4 Nov 2004), Find a Grave Memorial ID32022559, citing Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Colma,San Mateo County,California,USA;Maintained by Find a Grave.

Add Photos for Richard Duane Hongisto

Fulfill Photo Request for Richard Duane Hongisto

Photo Request Fulfilled

Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request

There is an open photo request for this memorial

Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?

Drag images here or select from
your computer forRichard Duane Hongisto memorial.

Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
  • Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
  • Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8 MB will be reduced. Photos larger than 20 MB will not be accepted.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
  • Photos larger than8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
  • Photos larger than20 MB will not be accepted.
  • Each contributor can upload a maximum of5 photos for a memorial.
  • A memorial can have a maximum of20 photos from all contributors.
  • The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional10 photos (for a total of30 on the memorial).
  • Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
  • No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
  • No post-mortem photos.

Read full guidelines

File Name
File Name

Request Grave Photo

Photo request failed. Try again later.

This memorial already has a grave photo. Please indicate why you think it needs another.

The note field is required.

Leave a Flower

Clear
    Loading...

    Your Scrapbook is currently empty.Add to your scrapbook

    NaN characters remaining
    Flower left by

    You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.

    Memorial Photos

    This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.

    Now Showing1 of2
    Larger memorial image loading...
    Loading...

    Added by: Ron Moody on 07 Dec 2008

    Photo Updated
    Photo Failed to Update
    Cover Photo Change Saved.

    Photo type: Person

    Now Showing2 of2
    Larger memorial image loading...
    Loading...

    Added by: G.Photographer on 07 Dec 2008

    Photo Updated
    Photo Failed to Update
    Cover Photo Change Saved.

    Photo type: Grave

    Share

    Oops, we were unable to send the email.

    Oops, we were unable to send the email.Try again

    • The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Verify and try again.

    Message:
    I thought you might like to see a memorial forRichard Duane Hongisto I found on Findagrave.com.

    Check out this Find a Grave memorial

    Sending...

    Save To

    This memorial has been copied to your clipboard.
    Failed to copy

    Your Virtual Cemeteries

    Report Abuse

    Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive?

    This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review.

    Failed to report flower. Try again later.

    Delete Flower

    Are you sure that you want to delete this flower?

    Failed to delete flower. Try again later.

    Delete Memorial

    Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial?

    Failed to delete memorial. Try again later.

    This memorial cannot be deleted. You cancontact support with questions.

    Reported Problems

    Problem #index#:

    Details:

    Reported By:

    Reported On:

    There was an error deleting this problem. Try again later.

    Report a problem

    Please select a problem

    Recently Deceased

    Report a Duplicate Memorial

    Which memorial do you think is a duplicate ofRichard Duane Hongisto(32022559)?

    We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged.Learn more about merges.

    Invalid memorial

    Please enter a valid Memorial ID

    You cannot merge a memorial into itself

    Memorial has already been merged

    Memorial has already been removed

    Delete Photo

    Are you sure that you want to delete this photo?

    Failed to delete photo. Try again later.

    Close

    Welcome to a Find a Grave Memorial Page

    Learn about how to make the most of a memorial.

    or don't show this again—I am good at figuring things out

    Cover photo and vital information

    Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.

    Show Map

    If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.

    Photos

    For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.

    Photos Tab

    All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.

    Flowers

    Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click theLeave a Flower button.

    Family Members

    Family members linked to this person will appear here.

    Related searches

    Use the links underSee more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.

    Sponsor This Memorial

    Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for <strong>just $10</strong>. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.

    Share

    Share this memorial using social media sites or email.

    Save to

    Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.

    Edit or Suggest Edit

    Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.

    Have Feedback

    Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.

    Leave feedback