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Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford dies after fighting cancer

Monday, May 11, 2015 photo provided by Dan Jacobs, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford gives a thumbs up before surgery in Toronto, to remove a cancerous tumor from his abdomen. In October 2015, doctors also discovered two cancerous growths on his bladder. He had been in the hospital since late February.
Monday, May 11, 2015 photo provided by Dan Jacobs, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford gives a thumbs up before surgery in Toronto, to remove a cancerous tumor from his abdomen. In October 2015, doctors also discovered two cancerous growths on his bladder. He had been in the hospital since late February. Uncredited AP
TORONTO

Rob Ford, the pugnacious, populist former mayor of Toronto whose career crashed in a drug-driven, obscenity-laced debacle, died Tuesday after fighting cancer, his family says. He was 46.

Ford rode into office on a backlash against urban elites. He cast an image sharply at odds with Canada’s reputation for sedate, unpretentious politics.

But his tenure as mayor of the country’s largest city was marred by revelations about his drinking problems and illegal drug use. He was repeatedly videotaped and photographed while intoxicated in public.

His statements and actions became nightly fodder for TV comedians and an embarrassment to many of the suburbanites he championed.

Nevertheless, he was later elected by a landslide to a city council seat.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford dies after fighting cancer."

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