SF Mayor Ed Lee remembered as friend of high tech, needy

Dec. 13 (UPI) -- San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was remembered Wednesday as a champion of the city's technology industry and an activist for reasonably priced housing.

Lee, 65, died of a heart attack at San Francisco General Hospital on Tuesday after falling ill while shopping with his wife.

Lee was appointed mayor in 2011 after Gavin Newsom became California's lieutenant-governor. A former civil rights lawyer and fair housing advocate, Lee was elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2015.

During Lee's tenure, San Francisco emerged from economic recession and regained its position as a leading center of high-technology development. The city's first Asian-American mayor encouraged the growth through policies and incentives favorable to the industry, such as the "Twitter tax break" -- although it led to a lack of reasonably priced housing in the city. Homelessness and traffic also became major problems.

The city's politically progressive segment was critical of Lee, saying he did little to uphold San Francisco's reputation. His embrace of high-tech companies was seen as a contrast to his earlier push for civil rights and affordable housing.

During his tenure, the median price of a home doubled to $1.2 million.

Lee's admirers praised him for his dedication empathy to the city's less fortunate.

"He cared about people in need his whole career," said Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, chief of protocol. "I never saw him out of sorts. And in that job, it can bring it on. He was low-key in such a wonderful way, but you could see the wheels were always turning."

Running for his second term, he focused on urban housing as his theme. In 2014, he unveiled a plan to build or rehabilitate 30,000 affordable housing units by 2020.

Lee is survived by his wife Anita, and daughters Brianna and Tania.