Ed Lee, San Francisco’s First Asian-American Mayor, Dies at 65
Mr. Lee became mayor — originally interim mayor — in January 2011 when, ending weeks of disputes, the board of supervisors, in a 10-to-1
vote, chose him to fill out the term of Gavin Newsom, who had resigned the office after being elected lieutenant governor of California.
As mayor, Mr. Lee sought to maintain San Francisco as, in his words, an “international beacon.”
“People come here to innovate, they want to have the ideas, they want to challenge themselves with different languages
and different cultures and be successful at the same time,” he said.
Ed Lee, a lawyer and affordable housing advocate who was the first Asian-American to be elected
mayor of San Francisco, died early Tuesday in a hospital there after collapsing.
In a statement, the office said he died at 1:11 a.m. at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
As mayor, Mr. Lee presided over a tremendous shift in wealth in the city, driven by the technology boom
that put San Francisco at the center of global innovation.
With its rapid growth, however, the city soon found itself grappling with an affordable housing crisis and a backlash by San Franciscans against the tech sector, one
that was vividly dramatized in 2013 when protesters blocked and vandalized buses taking tech workers to their jobs in Silicon Valley
Dennis Herrera, the city’s attorney, said the board can decide whether it wants to choose a replacement
mayor before June, when an election will determine who will finish out Mr. Lee’s term.