Congressman And Longtime Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Passes Away at Age 70
Only a few months after winning the campaign for Texas' 18th Congressional District, Turner passed away. After 27 years in the Texas House of Representatives, he was mayor of Houston for eight years .
Sylvester Turner, a longstanding mayor of Houston and a member of the US Congress, passed away due to chronic health issues. He was seventy.
According to a statement from his family, Turner passed away at 5:45 a.m. in his Washington, D.C., home after witnessing President Donald Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening.
Only a few months after winning the campaign for Texas' 18th Congressional District, Turner passed away. After 27 years in the Texas House of Representatives, he served as mayor of Houston for eight years, becoming a pillar in the history of the state's largest metropolis. From 1989 until 2016, he served as the representative for Texas District 139.
At City Hall on Wednesday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire declared, "We have lost an outstanding public official." "People, experience counts. There is only one Sylvester Turner, so no one will be able to take over and continue his responsibilities.
Turner was born in 1954 in the largely Black community of Acres Homes and is a local Houstonian.
He received a political science degree from the University of Houston in 1977 after graduating as Klein High School's valedictorian in 1973. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he began practicing law with a focus on corporate and commercial law.
Toward the end of his 2022 mayoral term, Turner disclosed that he had been secretly fighting bone cancer. When he complained of a toothache at a dental appointment, doctors found a tumor on his jaw and diagnosed him with osteosarcoma.
At the end of 2022, Turner declared himself cancer-free.
Whitmire declared on Wednesday, "Sylvester has improved my speaking." You simply cannot comprehend what it is like to be in a Black church on a Sunday morning while everyone else is enjoying the service and you have to listen to Sylvester Turner preach. He will help you reach your full potential in public service.
RELATED: As he gets ready to step down, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner considers his tenure in office.
Turner's campaign to improve Houston's infrastructure, public safety, flooding, and potholes received support during his tenure as mayor. The mayor shown his readiness to take on Houston's challenges early in his first term.
His efforts to guide the city through many federally designated natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic, were a defining feature of his term. As mayor, he supported a gun buyback program and tried to resolve Houston's persistent transportation problems by implementing the Vision Zero traffic safety plan, which increased access for bikes and pedestrians.
Joe Cutrufo, executive director of the nonprofit BikeHouston, said, "As mayor, Sylvester Turner oversaw an incredible time in which miles and miles of Houston streets were redesigned to prioritize safety over speed, a bold act for any American mayor, but especially for the mayor of a historically car-dependent city with deep ties to the petroleum industry."
The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, which for years attempted to resolve a labor dispute, and Turner also had a tense relationship.
"We acknowledge his decades of service to the city and the nation, even though our union had a very tense relationship with him and his actions had a significant impact on Houston firefighters," the group stated in a statement.
In order to compete for the congressional seat left vacant by the late Sheila Jackson Lee, Turner came out of his brief retirement last year. Turner stated that the only thing that could force him out of retirement after declaring he would run for her seat was Jackson Lee's passing at a pivotal point in the election cycle.
Turner's efforts to maintain government funding for storm recovery and cancer clusters in Houston's Fifth Ward, as well as police accountability, were central to his campaign platform for the congressional seat.
In addition to addressing rising costs and the high cost of living, Turner, a Democrat, sought to enact significant measures to curb the scourge of gun violence and lessen inequity in public schools.
A number of state and local authorities honored Turner's enduring contributions on Wednesday.
"A leader who transforms"
"The loss of Congressman Sylvester Turner is difficult to describe," said Christian Menefee, the attorney for Harris County, in a statement. As a tower of strength, wisdom, and unflinching dedication to Houstonians, residents of the 18th Congressional District, and all Texans, he dedicated his life to public service for almost forty years.
Turner embodied what it meant to be a Houstonian, according to U.S. Representative Lizzie Fletcher, who represents the state's 7th Congressional District.
Fletcher commented, "I am devastated and heartbroken by the loss of this exceptional Houstonian and exceptional human being." "You could always sense his affection for the city we call home and for everyone who lives here when he was around."
Lesley Briones, a Harris County Commissioner, described Turner's death as a "great loss to the community and country."
Briones stated that Congressman Turner was a transformative leader whose influence was felt in each area he served, whose career embodied the aspirations of his community, and whose legacy will last for many years. "In Houston, he likes to remind us of that."
According to Gilberto Hinojosa, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party, Turner was Houston "through and through."
He described him as a hard-working Texan who exhibited bravery in the face of hardship and had the belief that the bonds that unite us will always outweigh the forces that separate us.
According to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the community lost a leader who could never be replaced.
"I am startled and grieved by Congressman Sylvester Turner's demise. He was my