Lili Bosse (néeToren; born October 6, 1961) is an American politician who served as the Mayor of Beverly Hills, California. She has served non-consecutive terms as the mayor of the city from March 2014 to March 2015, from March 2017 to March 2018, and from April 2022 to April 2023.
Early life
Bosse was born on October 6, 1961[1] in Rego Park, Queens, New York City. When she was nine years old, her family relocated to Beverly Hills.[2][3][4] She is the only child of Holocaust survivors[4][5][6] who had met in Israel shortly after World War II and later immigrated to the United States.[7][8] Her father, Jack Toren, passed away in 1993,[9] while her mother, Rosalia (Orenstein) Toren, was born in Poland.
Rosalia authored two books about her experiences after escaping from the Auschwitz concentration camp: Destiny in 1991 and A New Beginning in 1997. Her mother died in February 2015.[9][7][10]
Bosse served on the Beverly Hills Traffic and Parking Commission from 1997 to 2002, and on the Beverly Hills Planning Commission from 2007 to 2011.[3][4][11] She was elected to a four-year term on the five-member Beverly Hills City Council in 2011.[3][11][12] She was appointed by the City Council to serve as vice mayor in 2013, and subsequently as mayor in 2014,[12][13][14] each for a one-year term.
Bosse was sworn in as mayor by actor Sidney Poitier in a ceremony at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 25, 2014.[14] Poitier had also sworn her in as vice mayor in 2013.[13] One of her first actions as Mayor was to announce a "Healthy City Initiative", which aimed to make Beverly Hills "the healthiest city in the world".[14]
In early May 2014, Bosse approved a resolution by the Beverly Hills City Council to urge the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, to sell the Beverly Hills Hotel after he had passed legislation in Brunei to impose Islamic Sharia law there.[15][16][17] Bosse made a "personal decision" not to visit the hotel until the situation had been resolved.[15][18]
From May 25 to June 3, 2014, Bosse visited China as part of a mayoral delegation trip.[19] She met officials in Beijing, Wuhan, Hongan, Guangzhou, and Jieyang to promote trade between China and Beverly Hills, especially its luxury industry.[19]
In March 2017, Bosse began her second term as the mayor of Beverly Hills.[20] She announced the renewal of her weekly "Walk With the Mayor" program and a new partnership between the City of Beverly Hills and author Deepak Chopra.[20] In August 2017, Bosse introduced Beverly Hills Open Later Days (BOLD) which encouraged local businesses to stay open later into the evening,[2][21] especially on Rodeo Drive.[22]
Bosse was reelected mayor of Beverly Hills in April 2022.[23] She announced the launch of a Real Time Watch Center to surveille the city's residents and 'BHPD alert' which provides citizen activity information directly from the police department.[24]
In October 2022, in response to the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran, she led the Beverly Hills City Council in the adoption of a resolution calling on the Biden administration to increase sanctions against Iran, for the United Nations to expel Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.[25]
Bosse received an invitation to participate in the second annual Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Athens, Greece, in December 2022. During the summit, she joined municipal leaders from 53 cities and 23 countries to sign a historic declaration committing to “fight antisemitism in all its manifestations” by cooperating in the areas of education, raising awareness, and promoting interfaith relations.[26]
Philanthropy
Bosse served as president of the Beverly Hills Education Foundation, from which she received the Spirit of Philanthropy Award.[3][4][11]
She is a donor to the Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden.[27] She is a founding member of the Police And Community Together organization.[4] Bosse and her husband donated US$100,000 to the Moriah Films division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center to honor her mother's 90th birthday in 2013. The name "Rose Orenstein Toren" will appear in the film credits of all documentaries subsequently produced by the center.[7] In 2013, she and her husband served on the Southern California Regional Council of Birthright Israel.[28]
Bosse is co-founder and serves on the executive board of Visionary Women, a nonprofit organization that promotes women in leadership positions.[29] She is a fellow of Vital Voices, a global women's leadership organization.[30]
Personal life
Her husband, Jon Bosse, is the co-president and chief investment officer of NWQ, an affiliate of Nuveen Investments.[4][31] They have two sons, Andrew and Adam.[3][4] They reside in Beverly Hills, California.[4]
^Halberg, Morgan (December 19, 2017). "Why Beverly Hills Is a Holiday Vacation Destination". The New York Observer; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. – via ProQuest.
^Talbot, Victoria (March 31, 2017). "Who's the Bosse"(PDF). The Beverly Hills Courier. Vol. LI, no. 13. pp. 1, 19. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
