Community leaders and former students gathered to honor the educator and former Long Beach mayor, Beverly O’Neill, whose influence extended from classrooms to City Hall on Oct. 1.
LBCC announced at the fundraising dinner that Lew Davis Street was to be renamed to Beverly O’Neill Way.
Many who attended the event had personal stories of their relationships with O’Niel, showing just how many people she had an impact on in the Long Beach community.
More than seven decades after O’Neill taught Greg Owen in kindergarten, a chance encounter at Long Beach City College brought the former student face to face with a woman who was at the beginning of his educational career.
Owen was sitting in the waiting area outside the Dean of Women’s office when O’Neill, then serving as dean, spotted him.
He recognized her face, but couldn’t remember where he had seen her before.
O’Neill invited him into her office, opened a drawer and pulled out a photograph of her kindergarten class from 1952.
“Mrs. O’Neill,” Owen recalled saying as soon as he recognized the photograph.
What followed was an hour-long conversation in which Owen explained that O’Niel “Knew where every one of those kids were in that class.”
For Owen, that encounter was one of many throughout a friendship that began in the classroom and continued throughout O’Neill’s career in education and politics.
Teresa O’Neill, daughter of Beverly O’Neill, speaking at the Beverly O’Neill Way Dedication and Commemoration Dinner on Oct. 1, 2026. Teresa O’Neill attended the dinner in place of her mother to unveil the new street sign that will sit next to the upcoming Liberal Arts Campus student housing project. (Jocelyn Cortez-Garcia)
Decades later, Owen was among those gathered at LBCC for a fundraising dinner honoring the former LBCC president and Long Beach Mayor, where her personal belongings were auctioned to raise money for scholarships in her name.
Before becoming one of Long Beach’s most prominent political figures, O’Neill built a career in education, holding several leadership positions at LBCC.
According to Superintendent-President Mike Muñoz, O’Niell became the college’s first female dean in 1969 and later its first female vice president and president.
Her work also extended to expanding educational opportunities for women at a time when barriers to higher education remained widespread.
Muñoz credited O’Neill with establishing the college’s Women’s Resources Center, which helped mothers and women return to school.
“There were a lot of barriers to higher education for women, for people of color, and she was at the forefront of making sure that Long Beach City College was a place where women belonged and that they thrived,” Muñoz said.
Jim Choura, an LBCC Hall of Fame inductee, said O’Neill’s background in education influenced her approach to leadership throughout her career.
“She was trained as an educator, so a lot of her leadership had to do with leading people and educating them,” Choura said.
After retiring from LBCC, O’Neill was elected mayor of Long Beach in 1994, beginning a new chapter of public service during a period of economic uncertainty for the city.
Muñoz pointed to the closure of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and the resulting economic challenges as part of the circumstances O’Neill confronted during her time in office.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said O’Neill emphasis on trade, technology, and tourism helped establish economic priorities that continue to shape the city’s development.
“That was incredibly insightful for the mayor at the time to have the foresight to say, we can’t necessarily bet on the industries of the past,” Richardson said.
He pointed to Long Beach’s growing aerospace industry, port activity and tourism as examples of the economic sectors O’Niell had envisioned decades earlier.
However, her leadership was not without opposition, as a framed cartoon that was once hung in O’Neill’s office bearing a phrase she used to describe opponents of change: “ CAVE people,” short for Citizens Against Virtually Everything.
Richardson bought the cartoon at the auction, recognizing the familiar challenges of public office.
“She had haters,” Richardson said, recalling the opposition O’Neill faced while pursuing her vision for Long Beach.
Richardson said the cartoon reminded him that the political challenges confronting his administration were not entirely different from those O’Neill encountered decades earlier.
“Sometimes people aren’t going to remember the ugly moments. They remember the legacy, which is powerful,” Richardson said.
O’Neill’s ability to work across political differences was another quality remembered by those who knew her.
Owen, who identified himself as a republican while O’Neill was a Democrat, said their differing political affiliation never interfered with their friendship.
“The thing that makes a difference with people like Beverly is she could bring the two sides together in almost any situation, on any issue,” Owen said.
Chaura echoed that sentiment, describing O’Neill as someone who sought solutions that benefited those involved.
“She was not one that split people. She worked out a way for everyone to win, and that’s not easy,” Chaura said.
Richardson also described O’Neill’s leadership as less partisan than today’s political environment, though he acknowledged that Long Beach has changed significantly since her time in office.
Dennis McConkey (Left) and Mari Hooper (Right) rekindle their friendship years later during the legacy celebration of Dr Beverly O’Neill Thursday, October 1, 2026. The celebration featured dinner, a program with guest speakers and bidding opportunities for art, straight from Dr O’Neill’s collection, with proceeds benefitting the Beverly O’Neill Scholarship with LBCC. Photo by: Steve Gonzalez
He pointed to changes in the city’s election system, greater diversity in political leadership and the different economic challenges facing today’s administration.
“She met the challenges of her time, and we’re meeting the challenges of our time,” Richardson said.
Despite those changes, Richardson said the relationship between Long Beach and its educational institutions remains important to the city’s development, pointing to initiatives such as Long Beach College Promise and Space Beach as examples of the continued collaboration between the city and its educational institutions.
For Muñoz, O’Neill’s years at LBCC laid the foundation for her later accomplishments in public office.
“The ability in which she was able to lead here at Long Beach City College was really the springboard to all of the work that she did both in the city and at the national level,” Muñoz said.
More than 430 students, Muñoz said, are expected to live in LBCC’s developing student housing complex, with Beverly O’Neill Way becoming part of their mailing address.
The event also provided an opportunity to continue O’Neill’s commitment to education through the auction of over 100 items of her personal belongings, with proceeds designated for scholarships bearing her name.
For Choura, the evening reflected the same commitment to education that shaped O’Neill’s career decades earlier.
“ It would be education, what she did for City Colleges, from the very beginning all the way through to tonight,” Choura said when asked what he considered her greatest legacy.
For former students like Owen, that legacy remains personal.
More than seven decades after sitting in O’Neill’s kindergarten classroom, Owen returned to an institution where she had once helped him continue his education, this time to honor the woman who remained part of his education.
Now, through scholarships established in her name, O’Neill’s connection to education will extend to another generation of students.
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