Berresford ‘Berry’ Bingham, political director of the SEIU Local 1021, found slain in his home
Kristin Bender | Oakland Tribune
Jan. 25, 2011
OAKLAND — Berresford “Berry” Bingham, the political director of SEIU Local 1021, has been found dead in his West Oakland home and investigators are treating the death as a homicide, police said.
Fran Jefferson, field director for the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, said Bingham’s son called their office late Tuesday morning because he hadn’t been able to reach his father.
Two SEIU employees went to Bingham’s home in the 500 block of Henry Street. His car was parked on the street but the door appeared to be ajar, Jefferson said. The two SEIU employees knocked, and when no one answered they called police, who entered the home at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday and found him dead.
Police were not releasing many details about the case, which is still under investigation. Police said Bingham, 64, had trauma to his body, but declined to say how he was killed. A motive was not known, police said.
“Berry was a huge part of the community,” Jefferson said, adding that he was a deacon at his church. “He was this huge force. He was an amazing person.”
In his job at Local 1021, which was previously Local 616, Bingham had been assigned to work with a Head Start campaign in Stockton so he often out of town. His overall job involved working with organizations like Head Start to strengthen ties between communities and the union.
Local 1021 represents public workers, including those in the city of Oakland, Alameda County and BART employees in Northern California, a union spokeswoman said. Bingham had worked for SEIU for about 17 years.
Read more @ San Jose Mercury News.
