Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Former Pittsburgh mayor dead at 80

|
|
 
  
Published: April 21, 2005 at 10:44 PM

MOUNT LEBANON, Pa., April 21 (UPI) -- Former Pittsburgh Mayor Peter Flaherty died this week at the age of 80.

The New York Times reports that family members say the cause of death was cancer.

A native of Pittsburgh, Flaherty got involved in politics after receiving a law degree from Notre Dame. He was elected to the City Council in 1965 and mayor four years later.

During his tenure as mayor, Flaherty was known as a progressive on social issues, while he was also a fiscal conservative who cut taxes and the city payroll. He took the slogan "Nobody's Boy" to demonstrate independence from the city's Democratic machine, although he was a member of the party.

Flaherty resigned in 1977 to become a deputy attorney general in President Jimmy Carter's administration, leaving within months because he disliked Washington.

He was the Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1978, losing to Dick Thornburgh, and twice for U.S. Senate.

Topics: Dick Thornburgh
© 2005 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Syrian protests continue
View Caption
fark
Survey finds that men are quick to fall in love, roll over and fall asleep
World Fark Party II - Las Vegas Nevada: March 30 - Apr 1
Nerdiest sport ever: Combat juggling
Photoshop this topless athlete
Man rejects girlfriend's noodles, says toodles by leaving her in poodle of blood. Oodles of boodle...
Mormons tried to posthumously baptize Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel but were...