An early advocate of civilian law enforcement oversight, Byrd was a longtime leader in the local NAACP chapter, helped found the Commission on the Status of Women and what is now Community Action Partnership, and for decades ran the Byrd Foundation, which helps low income local college students.
Civil rights leader Ann Gray Byrd, who grew up in Santa Rosa, is dead at the age of 86. Byrd died at her home in Santa Rosa on July 7th, after struggling