Charles Henry “Charlie” Price, the first Black man to serve as a Rochester police officer, died Monday at the age of 98.
His death was announced by Mayor Lovely Warren, who said in a statement that she was “filled with great sadness” when she learned that he had died and called his career, in which he retired as a captain, “remarkable and historic.”
Source: Charlie Price, Rochester’s first Black police officer, dies at 98 WXXI News
Mr. Price grew up in a neighborhood in Corn Hill. He once told the Democrat and Chronicle “it was mostly Italian with one German family. We all got along pretty good. If anybody said anything about the Italians I’d take up for them and they’d take up for me.”
He graduated from Madison High School, where he starred in basketball, football, and track. Mr. Price came from a family known for service, dating back to the Civil War cavalry service of his grandfather, Adam Price. And, he continued the tradition, joining the Tuskegee Airmen, the country’s first Black military airmen, in World War II.
Source: Charlie Price remembered as pioneer for Black police officers in Rochester NY Democrat and Chronicle
Price joined the Rochester Police Department in 1947. When he took the oath, he became the first Black man to serve the department. He worked his way up the ranks from detective to captain.
During his career, he worked security for both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X on their Rochester visits.
Price retired from the Rochester Police Department in 1985.
Source: Rochester’s first Black police officer, Charles Price, passes WHEC, News 10
Photo Courtesy of WXXI News