BOSTON — Thomas Menino, Boston’s longest-serving mayor whose mumbling and occasional bumbling belied his political ingenuity and endeared him to a scrappy city whose very skyline he helped reshape, died Thursday. He was 71.
Menino died in the company of his family and friends, said spokeswoman Dot Joyce. He had been diagnosed with advanced cancer in February, shortly after leaving office, and announced a week ago he was suspending treatment and a book tour so he could spend more time with family and friends.
First elected in 1993, Menino built a formidable political machine that ended decades of Irish domination of city politics, winning re-election four times.
He was the city’s first Italian-American mayor and served in the office for more than 20 years before health problems forced him, reluctantly, to eschew a bid for a sixth term.
“I can run, I can win and I can lead, but not in the neighborhoods all the time as I like,” Menino, a Democrat, told an overflow crowd at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall on March 28, 2013.
Less than three weeks after that announcement, two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 260. Menino, who had undergone surgery on a broken leg two days earlier, checked himself out of a hospital to help lead his city through the crisis.
President Barack Obama hailed Menino as “bold, big-hearted and Boston strong.”
Reaction poured in from leaders around the country, including Secretary of State John Kerry, a longtime U.S. senator from Massachusetts, who said, “Tom Menino was Boston.”
Reflecting Menino’s popularity, all four professional sports teams — the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots — were mourning his passing. Flags at Fenway Park were lowered to half-staff, along with those at all state and city buildings.
Menino was anything but a smooth public speaker and was prone to verbal gaffes. He was widely quoted describing Boston’s notorious parking shortage as “an Alcatraz” around his neck, rather than an albatross.
But while such mistakes might sink other politicians, they only seemed to reinforce his affable personality and ability to connect with the residents he served.
“I’m Tom Menino. I’m not a fancy talker, but I get things done,” he said in his first TV ad.
In an interview with The Associated Press in March, Menino said he “loved every minute” of being mayor, even during the city’s darkest days.
“I just did my job — nothing special,” he said.
