Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
U.S. Congressman and longtime Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has died from enduring well being problems. He was 70.
Turner died in his Washington D.C. dwelling at 5:45 a.m. after attending President Donald Trump’s deal with to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening, his household mentioned in an announcement.
Turner’s loss of life got here simply months after he gained Texas’ 18th Congressional District race. He stood as a pillar within the historical past of the state’s largest municipality, serving eight years as Houston’s mayor after 27 years within the Texas Home of Representatives. He represented Texas District 139 from 1989 till 2016.
“We’ve misplaced an impressive public official,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire mentioned Wednesday at Metropolis Corridor. “Expertise issues of us. Nobody will be capable of step into Sylvester’s footwear and keep on his duties as a result of there’s just one Sylvester Turner.”
A local Houstonian, Turner was born in 1954 and grew up in Acres Houses, a predominantly Black suburb.
He graduated as valedictorian from Klein Excessive Faculty in 1973 and earned a political science diploma from the College of Houston in 1977. He attended Harvard Regulation Faculty and began a profession as an lawyer specializing in company and industrial regulation.
Within the closing stretch of his mayoral tenure in 2022, Turner introduced he had been quietly battling bone most cancers. He was recognized with osteosarcoma after medical doctors found a tumor on his jaw throughout a dental go to when he complained of a toothache.
Turner declared himself most cancers free on the finish of 2022.
“I’m a greater speaker due to Sylvester,” Whitmire mentioned Wednesday. “You simply can’t perceive what it’s wish to be in an African American — a Black church on Sunday morning with everybody having fun with the service and need to observe Sylvester Turner talking. He’ll convey out the perfect in you in public service.”
Throughout his mayoral phrases, Turner garnered help in his marketing campaign to deal with Houston’s potholes, infrastructure, public security and flooding. Simply into his first time period, the mayor confirmed his preparation to deal with what Houston needed to provide.
His tenure was marked by his efforts main the town by way of a number of federally declared pure disasters, together with Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic. He championed a gun buyback initiative and labored to deal with Houston’s lingering transportation points as mayor, increasing entry for pedestrians and cyclists by adopting the Imaginative and prescient Zero site visitors security initiative.
“As mayor, Sylvester Turner presided over a outstanding interval in which miles upon miles of Houston streets have been reimagined to prioritize security over velocity, a daring act for any American mayor, however particularly for the mayor of an traditionally car-dependent metropolis with deep ties to the petroleum business,” Joe Cutrufo, govt director of the nonprofit BikeHouston, mentioned.
Turner additionally had a contentious relationship with the Houston Skilled Fireplace Fighters Affiliation, which for years sought to settle a labor dispute with Turner’s administration. On Wednesday, the affiliation prolonged condolences to the previous mayor and his household.
“Whereas our union had a deeply contentious relationship with him, and his selections had a profound influence on Houston firefighters, we additionally acknowledge his a long time of service to the town and the nation,” the affiliation mentioned in an announcement.
Final 12 months, Turner stepped out of his temporary retirement to enter a head-to-head race to fill the late Sheila Jackson Lee’s congressional seat. Upon asserting he would search to take up her seat, Turner mentioned solely Jackson Lee’s loss of life at a crucial second within the election cycle may convey him out of retirement.
Turner’s marketing campaign platform for the congressional seat targeted on police accountability and his efforts to maintain federal assets flowing to deal with hurricane restoration and most cancers clusters in Houston’s Fifth Ward.
Turner, a Democrat, additionally aimed to move robust reforms to finish a gun violence epidemic, cut back inequality in public colleges and deal with rising costs and the excessive price of residing.
On Wednesday, a number of metropolis and state officers paid homage to Turner’s lasting impacts.
‘A transformational chief’
Daisy Espinoza/ Houston Public Media
“It’s exhausting to place into phrases the lack of Congressman Sylvester Turner,” Harris County Legal professional Christian Menefee mentioned in an announcement. “For practically 4 a long time, he devoted his life to public service, standing as a pillar of energy, knowledge and unwavering dedication to Houstonians, residents of the 18th Congressional District, and all Texans.”
U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, who represents the state’s seventh Congressional District, mentioned Turner personified what it meant to be a Houstonian.
“I’m heartbroken and devastated by the lack of this distinctive Houstonian and distinctive human being,” Fletcher mentioned. “In his presence you may all the time really feel the love for the town that we name dwelling and for all of the individuals who stay right here.”
Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones known as Turner’s passing an amazing loss to the group and nation.
“Congressman Turner was a transformational chief whose presence was felt in each neighborhood he represented, whose profession carried the hopes of his group, and whose legacy will resonate for generations,” Briones mentioned. “He beloved to remind us that in Houston.”
Texas Democratic Social gathering Chair Gilberto Hinojosa mentioned Turner was Houston “by way of and thru.”
“He was the type of Texan who labored exhausting, lived out braveness within the face of adversity, and believed that the ties that bind us will all the time be stronger than the forces that divide us,” he mentioned.
The group misplaced an irreplaceable chief, Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo mentioned.
“I’m devastated and shocked by the passing of Congressman Sylvester Turner, who was my governing associate and pal,” Hidalgo mentioned. “We regularly talked about how fantastic it was {that a} child from Acres Houses and an immigrant child may turn into the mayor and the county govt of communities as larges as Houston and Harris County.
“We mourned the passing of Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee collectively, and we additionally loved rodeos and celebrated Astros wins collectively,” Hidalgo added. “I beloved him and I appreciated him.”
