Rob Ford, the controversial and often outrageous former mayor of Toronto has died.
The 46-year-old, who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive abdominal cancer in the middle of a 2014 campaign to be re-elected as Toronto’s mayor, finally succumbed to the disease on Tuesday. At the time of the diagnosis, doctors estimated the tumour to be 2 – 3 years old.
Ford hit the headlines in the UK and internationally in 2013, when he was forced to confess to alcohol and drug-fuelled binges after video emerged of him smoking crack-cocaine. He had previously denied the allegations.
Despite Ford’s transgressions, the Toronto City Council he represented could not lawfully remove him from office nor persuade him to stand down. The Council could and did, however, divest him of certain critical mayoral powers and reassign these and many of his staff to his deputy Norm Kelly – effectively making Kelly the de facto mayor of the city.
Other scandals that plagued Ford included a conflict of interest case related money borrowed from his charity; drink-fuelled tirades targeting various ethnic minorities and criticism of cyclists and homosexuals.
Ford underwent surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in May 2015, what was then considered his last chance to survive pleomorphic liposarcoma.
Though the surgery was hailed as a success, the discovery of two new tumours months later merited repeated rounds of chemotherapy that kept him away from the council chamber and his city hall office.
In recent weeks, Ford entered a clinical trial aimed at finding a personalized treatment for his cancer. But the process, which involves implanting a tumour in mice and testing different combinations of drugs, takes four months to complete.
A brief statement from the Ford family announcing the death Tuesday described the former mayor as a “dedicated man of the people” who “spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto.”
“The family will not be making any statements to the media or taking any questions,” the statement said.
Politicians were quick to respond to the news. “I have known Rob Ford for many years. He was a man who spoke his mind and who ran for office because of the deeply felt convictions that he had,” Mayor John Tory said in a release.
“His time in City Hall included moments of kindness, of generosity to his council colleagues and real efforts to do what he thought was best for Toronto.
“He was, above all else, a profoundly human guy whose presence in our city will be missed.”
Premier Kathleen Wynne noted that “Rob Ford grew up in a family with a strong tradition of political involvement and community service. And he upheld that tradition throughout his life.”
