Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino Dies

Thomas Menino, Boston’s longest-serving mayor, died Thursday at the age of 71 after battling cancer.

Menino was elected to an unprecedented five terms as mayor of Boston. After Mayor Raymond Flynn was appointed U.S. ambassador to the Vatican by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Menino became the first Italian mayor of Irish-dominated Boston. He would go on to win election in his own right later that year, taking 64% of the vote. According to the Boston Globe , “his reelection margins never dropped below 15 percentage points and were as high as 49 points.”

Menino had a reputation as a popular, blue-collar politician who oversaw a revitalization of Boston. He became known as “the urban mechanic” for his preference of a hands-on approach to tackling the city’s problems.

“Visionaries don’t get things done,” Menino said.

He was also considered a devoted liberal, despite the position of mayor being a non-partisan one.

“If, 100 years from now, they look back at my election, I hope what they see is the beginning of a century of inclusive politics,” Menino said at his first State of the City address in 1994. “Throughout my whole career I have tried to be an open door to people left out of the mainstream. As mayor, I intend to continue that.”

Thomas Menino was born in 1942 to working-class parents in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston. He would never forget his roots and frequently cite the influence of his parents, especially his mother, in the way he approached politics.

He cut an ubiquitous figure in Boston throughout his two decades as mayor, making street politics and connecting with voters a priority. The “urban mechanic” had little taste for the showiness of politics.

“I didn’t learn anything sitting in this room,” he told the Globe last year in his office. “I’d rather be out there, talking to the people. This job, my legacy, is about the people.”

The Washington Post says that even as late as 2013, his final year in office, he had an approval rating of 74 percent.

Thomas Menino left office earlier this year at the end of his fifth term as mayor, and was diagnosed with advanced cancer soon after. The funeral mass is set for noon Monday at Most Precious Blood Church in Hyde Park, the same church in which he was baptized.

Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino Dies