by Elizabeth Weise
Ed Lee, the first Asian American to be mayor of San Francisco, died early Tuesday morning.
Lee and his wife Anita were grocery shopping at the Safeway on Monterey when he suffered a heart attack at about 10:30 p.m. Monday evening. He was taken to General Hospital, where he died.
In a statement, the City said:
“It is with profound sadness and terrible grief that we confirm that Mayor Edwin M. Lee passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 1:11 a.m. at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital,” the statement said. “Family, friends and colleagues were at his side. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Anita, his two daughters, Brianna and Tania, and his family.”
Mayor Lee was 65. He and his family were long time Glen Park residents.
Just two weeks ago, on Nov. 30, Mayor Lee and District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy did a walk through of Glen Park on Thursday, Nov. 30, chatting with local business owners and promoting the “Shop Local” program. Marian Dalere of Dalere’s Beauty Salon got these photos. Zoel from the gift store Perch told her that the mayor bought two ornaments.
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I remember when Ed’s wife Anita came to visit the students at Starr King elementary school on Potrero where my kids were in school. She was so great with the all the kids. She also spoke with students in the Mandarin immersion program. In Mandarin she told them that she’d met her husband trying to tutor him in Mandarin in Hong Kong. She said he never did get very good at Mandarin (he spoke Cantonese) and joked with them that if he’s worked harder at it he might have gotten a good job! Then she talked about how proud she was of him and his accomplishments. But she still said he should have studied Mandarin harder and urged the kids to learn their characters.