Toronto's most famous mayor has died. Rob Ford passed away this/Tuesday morning after losing his battle with a rare form of cancer. The former mayor made headlines around the world with his controversial admission of having used crack cocaine.
Ford was placed in palliative care just a day ago after his doctors said he was not responding to the latest round of chemotherapy. He had been diagnosed with malignant liposarcoma in September of 2014.
That forced him to pull out of the mayoral race that year, but he continued campaigning in a fight for a seat on the city council, which he won.
Flags at Toronto's City Hall and municipal buildings were lowered on Tuesday and people talked openly about the former mayor who had achieved near rock star status. Almost all acknowledged that, despite his personal problems, Ford was a fighter for the city.
But his personal life is what captured attention, to his off-color remarks in council chambers to his drunkenness to his admission of using crack cocaine.
"Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors," Ford said at the time.
Still, as controversial as he was, people felt Ford was fighting for them and their city. That was reflected in the comments of colleagues and opponents alike as they marked his passing.
"He was a fighter, we all know that. [He had a] very unique love of the city," one said.
Many people in Toronto believed the 46-year-old former mayor and career politician, who they knew as a political fighter, would beat the cancer and even return, one day, as mayor. To them he was charming, engaging and one of them.
