Billy Gene Mills, a civil rights attorney, former Los Angeles City Council member and later Superior Court judge who helped break racial barriers in Los Angeles public life and spent decades advocating for equal justice, died June 27 at his Leimerk Park home after years of declining health. He was 96.
Mills was the first Black graduate of the UCLA School of Law, and in 1963, became one of the first Black members elected to the Los Angeles City Council alongside Tom Bradley. During his tenure, he helped guide the city through the aftermath of the 1965 Watts uprising and championed long-overdue infrastructure improvements in South Los Angeles.
In 1974, then Gov. Ronald Reagan appointed Mills to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, where he served for 16 years. During his judicial career, he also periodically sat by special appointment on California Court of Appeal panels.
To his son, James Edward Mills, a freelance journalist and founder of the Joy Trip Project, those accomplishments never overshadowed the man he knew at home.
“I think the thing I want people to know about my father most is that he was a very conscientious and present person, just in the sense that he was very deliberate in his thoughts and his actions,” James Mills said in an interview Monday.
“He was very forthright” as a public servant and judge, “but most importantly, as a husband and father,” Mills said.
Away from public office, Mills was an avid runner who took his sons backpacking and backcountry skiing. He enjoyed cooking, gardening and writing, and completed one published book while leaving behind an unpublished manuscript, his son said. In later years, James Mills said, one of his favorite memories was watching his father embrace being a grandfather.
“He loved children,” he said. “To see this man who stood up for civil rights, who confronted the issues of racism and public strife, but at the critical points of his career, was also a very gentle and doting and excited grandfather… that always was something that I really enjoyed seeing as an adult.”
Born in Waco, Texas in 1929, Mills came of age during segregation before moving to Los Angeles, where he built a career in law, public service and the judiciary.
As a civil rights attorney, he focused on ensuring people received fair treatment under the legal system, a commitment that shaped his approach in elected office and on the bench.
“I think part of what made him a good civil rights attorney and advocate was a very clear understanding of what is fair…to make sure that everyone got their day in court, that everyone was being treated fairly by the judicial system, whether it be by the police or in the courts,” James Mills said.
He said his father believed people in his community deserved advocates who would look out for their best interests.
As a councilmember representing South Los Angeles, Mills pushed for neighborhood improvements including paved alleys and streetlights in underserved communities.
“He was always interested in looking out for the best interests of his constituents,” James Mills said. His father believed public service meant helping residents feel “safe and seen in their own neighborhoods,” he added.
Mayor Karen Bass called Mills “a trailblazing public servant, civil rights attorney, and jurist whose life helped shape the arc of justice and opportunity in our city.”
“As the first Black graduate of the UCLA School of Law and the first Black man elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1963, alongside Tom Bradley, Mills broke barriers and helped open doors for generations of Angelenos,” Bass said in a statement Monday.
In a statement provided to SCNG Monday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II said Mills left behind “an extraordinary legacy of public service,” noting that he earned widespread respect during his years on the bench for his thoughtful approach to the law and his commitment to mentoring future legal professionals.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who now represents much of the area Mills once served on the City Council, said in a statement provided to SCNG that Mills “paved the way for greater political representation in L.A. while establishing a tradition of service and integrity in our community, creating an exponential impact.”
Michael Waterstone, dean of UCLA School of Law, said Mills embodied the school’s commitment to public service.
“Few members of our law school community better personify UCLA Law’s founding mission of public service and excellence than Billy Mills does,” he said in a statement provided to SCNG. “He brought people together and was a builder of community and defender of justice.”
James Mills said he hopes his father’s legacy is remembered not simply through the offices he held, but through the examples he set.
“Anybody can be him,” he said. Mills recalled one of his father’s favorite sayings: “Things in life will happen the way you want them to if you insist that they do. So if you want good things, you just have to work really hard at making sure that they happen.”
Bill Gene Mills is survived by five children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced. James Mills said the family welcomes support for the Judge Billy Gene Mills and Dr. Rubye Mills Scholarship Fund at UCLA, established in honor of his parents to support future generations of students.