Robert W. Cherny is professor emeritus of history at San Francisco State University. He has written extensively on the history of San Francisco, including, most recently, The Coit Tower Murals: New Deal Art and Political Controversy in San Francisco. He is also coauthor with William Issel of San Francisco, 1865-1932: Politics, Power, and Urban Development. He has been a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, Distinguished Fulbright Lecturer at Moscow State University, Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Melbourne, and Senior Fulbright Scholar at Heidelberg University. He served for five years on San Francisco's Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board and continues to be actively involved in historic preservation activities in the city.
