Edwin “Ed” Lee, the mayor of San Francisco died suddenly of cardiac arrest early Tuesday morning at age 65. He became the city’s first Asian American mayor when he was named to serve out the remainder of Gavin Newsom’s term in January 2011.
A statement released from the City of San Francisco said the mayor died at 1:11A.M. at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he was taken by ambulance. Family, friends and colleagues were by his side. Supervisor Jeff Sheehy said the Mayor collapsed while grocery shopping at his neighborhood Safeway around 10:00P.M. on Monday night.
His sudden death shocked public officials, who praised the low-key mustachioed mayor who was known more as a former civil rights lawyer and longtime city bureaucrat than as a flashy politician.
Edwin Lee, was an affordable-housing advocate who presided over a time of ballooning rents and explosive real estate prices in his city, and a supporter of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy toward people who are in the country illegally.
Steinle. Condolences have poured in non-stop through social media.
Board of Supervisors President London Breed became Acting Mayor of San Francisco, effectively immediately In accordance with the City Charter. Breed is now recognized as San Francisco’s first female African American mayor in any capacity.
