Charles "Charley" Royer (1939-2024) was mayor of Seattle from 1978 to 1990, and is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. Born in Medford, Oregon, Royer worked in TV news in Oregon in the 1960s and became known for his political coverage. He moved to Seattle in 1970 to work for KING-TV, then ran for mayor in 1977 and defeated Paul Schell in the run-off election by about 25,000 votes. Early on, Royer had an often fractious relationship with the City Council (several of whom had run against him for mayor) and some of his hiring choices were, by Royer's own admission, "clinkers." Royer successes as mayor include low-income housing initiatives, the Metro bus tunnel, and a recycling program that became a national model. Royer easily won reelection in 1981 and 1985 but decided not to seek a fourth term . After leaving City Hall, he led Harvard’s Institute of Politics for five years before returning to Seattle in 1995. He worked on community health projects and at UW's School of Public Affairs and continued speaking out on issues facing Seattle.

This image shows Royer speaking about Project SOS (Seattle Outreach to Sudan), a month-long effort to provide aid to a refugee camp in Sudan for people fleeing drought in Ethiopia. City, church and charity leaders kicked off the event at City Hall on April 30, 1985. Here, City Council President Norm Rice listens as Royer speaks about the community project.

Caption information source: "Royer, Charles (1939-2024)," by Frank Chesley, HistoryLink, retrieved from https://www.historylink.org/File/8265
Caption information source: "Seattle 'adopts' Sudan refugee camp" by Duff Wilson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 1, 1985. p. A3