Encyclopedia Of Detroit
Millender, Robert, Sr.
Robert L. Millender, Sr. was a prominent labor law attorney and political strategist who played a significant role in African American politics in Detroit during the 1960s and 70s. The Millender Center in downtown Detroit was named for him.
Millender was born in Chicora, Mississippi on December 8, 1916. Part of the Great Migration, his family moved to Detroit in 1921 where his father took a job at Ford Motor Company. After graduating from Northwestern High School, Millender joined his father at Ford but in 1941 went to work at the post office and attend night school, marrying Louise Bowen that same year. The couple had three children.
After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II as warrant officer, Millender returned to Detroit to attend the Detroit College of Law, graduating in 1952. From there he was hired by the Workers’ Compensation Board and became its deputy director in 1957. He was also appointed to the Trade Unions Leadership Council. He was a partner in one of the country’s first racially integrated law firms, Goodman, Eden, Millender and Bedrosian.
Millender deftly applied his drive toward politics. Along with George Crockett, Jr. he was able to get Michigan’s first congressional district redrawn so that the largely African American citizens of Detroit would have greater representation. Millender served as campaign manager for John Conyers in 1964 when he was elected representative of that district.
Never a candidate himself, Millender was campaign manager for a number of notable political figures such as George Crockett, Jr. for Recorder’s Court judge, Richard Austin for Secretary of State, and two Detroit City Council members, Robert Tindal and Erma Henderson. He was Coleman Young’s campaign manager in 1973.
The Millender Center, a mixed-use building complex with a 33-story apartment tower on Jefferson Avenue at Randolph Street was named after him in 1985. The Millender Center Apartments were renamed Renaissance City Apartments at Millender Center in 2013 when the building was sold.
Millender died on November 14, 1978 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. His papers were donated to the Walter P. Reuther Archives at Wayne State University by his daughters.
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