Richard D. Gleason

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Richard Daniel Gleason (September 22, 1896 – January 17, 1937) was an American politician from Roxbury, Massachusetts. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and on the Boston City Council. He represented the 13th Suffolk District from 1923 to 1925 and the 9th Suffolk District from 1929 to 1931. He was a member of the Boston City Council for Ward 9 from 1930 until his death in 1937. His sister Mildred M. Harris later took his seat on the council.

Gleason’s career included several legal and disciplinary issues. In 1923 he and two others were charged with assault; he was found guilty and sentenced to a month in the House of Correction. Later that year, he and others were charged with keeping liquor for sale at the Roxbury Democratic Club; those charges against Gleason were dropped in 1924 after his brother Joseph pleaded guilty. He faced further conflicts while in office, including being ejected by police during a 1930 Democratic State Convention fistfight.

In 1933, during a tie vote for the council president, Gleason—who supported Joseph McGrath—was brought in from the hospital to vote, but the deadlock could not be broken. In 1934 he was found guilty of assaulting a police officer, destruction of property, and drunkenness, and he was fined $70. In 1935 he was removed from the council chamber after threatening Councilor Fish. The 1935 election featured a race riot involving Gleason and Ernest D. Cooke’s supporters. Gleason died in Roxbury on January 17, 1937 at age 40; his sister Mildred M. Harris succeeded him on the council.