Thomas M. Menino, Boston’s longest serving mayor, has died at 71

[Capt. Obvious]

Source: Boston Globe

Thomas Michael Menino, who insisted a mayor doesn’t need a grand vision to lead, then went on to shepherd Boston’s economy and shape the skyline and the very identity of the city he loved through an unprecedented five consecutive terms in City Hall, died Thursday. . He was 71 and was diagnosed with advanced cancer not long after leaving office at the beginning of this year.
.
...

For constituents, Mr. Menino was the perennial mayor in their midst, a constant presence at neighborhood events. More than half of the Bostonians who responded to a 2008 Globe poll said they had met him personally. Anyone who watched the mayor stroll through neighborhoods from Bowdoin-Geneva to West Roxbury might think that figure far too low.

Mr. Menino’s health had declined in recent years, and he was hospitalized with a broken leg three days before the bombings occurred at the 2013 Boston Marathon. Checking himself out against his doctor’s advice, he attended the first news conference and three days later pushed himself out of his wheelchair to stand at the pulpit and speak at an interfaith service. “We are one Boston,” he said that day. “No adversity, no challenge, nothing can tear down the resilience in the heart of this city and its people.”

A politician with a flashing temper, whose skin could be as thin as his victory margins were thick, Mr. Menino was Boston’s first mayor of Italian descent. After that first landslide in 1993, his reelection margins never dropped below 15 percentage points and were as high as 49 points. His time in office also straddled a significant demographic shift when the number of white residents in the city fell below 50 percent, and as Boston changed, he built a vaunted Democratic political machine. A protégé of Joseph Timilty, a former city councilor and state senator, Mr. Menino landed his first government jobs with his mentor’s assistance and knew firsthand how to use patronage.

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/30/thomas-menino-boston-longest-serving-mayor-has-died-age/zAuWXQ4ccPJSv7uuW0kcDK/story.html

---

[edbermac]

1. Damn!

I heard he had given up his treatment a few days ago and feared the worst; I didn't realize he was that bad.

RIP

[valerief]

2. Ciao, Mumbles. nt

[frazzled]

5. I used to endearingly call him "marble mouth"

He was a colorful character. But I often could barely understand a word he was saying. (I wasn't a native Bostonian.) I thought he represented the last of that breed of big-city (well, Boston isn't that big) Irish mayors, and I liked him a lot.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Mayor.

[valerief]

6. I remember his reign. (I forget if I was a Boston resident then or living

outside Boston, but if I was in Boston, I voted for him.) Anyway, I couldn't understand a word he said either. BTW, he was Italian, not Irish--but he was a vast improvement over that asshole Ray Flynn.

[frazzled]

7. Heh ... you're right

But hey, he seemed Irish. All the MA politicians want to seem Irish. (Like John Kerry, whose Jewish grandfather changed the family's name from Kohn to Kerry, allowing the grandson to walk in St. Patrick's Day parades with total confidence.)

[valerief]

8. Right. Everyone, no matter what you look like, is Irish in Boston.

[Warpy]

3. Going to be a big funeral

Most people in the city loved him.

The patronage system looks like corruption to outsiders, but it's helped Boston run smoothly for a very long time.

Menino was a master at using it for the city's advantage, not just his own.

[bigwillq]

4. RIP. A Mayor who was truly "for the people"

[strawberries]

9. he was. how sad

[WilliamPitt]

10. He marched at the head of the Pride Parade every year

[Gothmog]

11. May he rest in peace

[iscooterliberally]

12. I got to see him in person in 2012 at Santarpio's.

I was living in Eastie at the time. I'm more of a South Florida guy though. I remember he did not look well. He was standing out front leaning on his cane and very thin and pale. There were quite a few candidates in there all running for mayor. I had no idea so many people would be there that day. I just wanted the steak and sausage combo. I loved Santarpios and Boston in general. Rest in peace Mayor Menino.

[magical thyme]

13. it feels like he was mayor the entire time I lived in Mass

I always liked him.

[JDDavis]

14. Tributes coming in from all sorts of people.

From Tweets from Michelle Obama, and the President, the Vice President, even from Romney and just about every state elected official, as well as sports stars and, of course, the common person Bostonian.

The Twitter feed has been busy all day, as you can browse here.

https://twitter.com/search?q=Tom%20Menino&src=typd

[intheflow]

15. .

[Cha]

16. Oh, how sad.. he seemed like a great mayor for Boston.

RIP Mayor Merino