# Former Mayor Kevin Hagan White dies at 82



## cc3915 (Mar 26, 2004)

Kevin Hagan White, a colossal political figure who helped transform Boston into a world-class city during 16 often turbulent years as mayor, has died, according to Mayor Thomas M. Menino . He was 82 and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about a decade ago.
A larger-than-life presence of his era, Mr. White had deep roots in the parochial old political culture of the city, but lightning instincts and a roving intellect that propelled him to national stature. Amid society-altering upheavals of the era -- the civil rights movement, Vietnam War, and Watergate -- he adapted and survived, at times reinventing himself.
From 1968 to 1984, Mr. White was chief executive of a fast-changing metropolis, which had emerged from decades of economic stagnation and insularity with an explosion of growth and construction downtown. But social change tore at the city's fabric. Racial tension and violence during court-ordered school desegregation in the mid-1970s stained Boston's image, perhaps indelibly.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrod...-white-dies/oSJ3m6JlbwXLQOg4UbUMaM/index.html


----------



## cc3915 (Mar 26, 2004)

It's amazing how some media outlets have the obits all ready and raring to go. Rest in Peace Mayor White.


----------



## lofu (Feb 25, 2006)

I gotta be honest, I didn't know he was still alive. RIP Mayor.


----------



## Guest (Jan 28, 2012)

lofu said:


> I gotta be honest, I didn't know he was still alive. RIP Mayor.


He did one of the greatest disappearing acts in Massachusetts political history after he left office. He vanished in 1984 after Ray Flynn was sworn in, and only resurfaced about 10 years ago to campaign for his daughter when she unsuccessfully ran for the Boston City Council, then went back into hiding.


----------



## cc3915 (Mar 26, 2004)

I'll never forget how he said "the shitty of Boston"....


----------

