LOS ANGELES (KERO) — Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan died on Wed, April 19.
The businessman was first elected mayor in 1993 and won a second term four years later, serving until 2001. During his tenure, Riordan helped reshape Los Angeles following the 1992 riots that erupted after the Rodney King police beating. He also expanded the Los Angeles Police Department and led the area as it recovered from the Northridge earthquake in 1994.
Current Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass issued a statement, praising Riordan for "bettering our city."
Riordan was 92 years old.
Bass' full statement on Riordan can be read below.
"Mayor Richard Riordan loved Los Angeles, and devoted so much of himself to bettering our City. He always had a place in his heart for the children of LA and worked to improve how the City served our youth and communities as a passionate member of the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners.
"Mayor Riordan’s legacy includes our City’s iconic Central Library, which he saved and rebuilt, and which today carries his name.
"In the wake of the Northridge earthquake, Mayor Riordan set the standard for emergency action — he reassured us and delivered a response with an intensity that still pushes us all to be faster and stronger amidst crisis.
"Though born in New York, Mayor Riordan will be remembered as an LA original.
"I extend my deepest condolences to all who loved and looked up to Mayor Riordan. May he rest in peace."
