Sunday, November 23, 2014

Marion Barry: Ex-Washington DC Mayor dies at 78



Former Mayor in Washington DC, “Marion S. Barry” who served four times as a Mayor and won the re-election after drug arrest, has died on Sunday morning. He died at the age of 78.  
    
Mr. Barry had admitted himself at Howard University Hospital because he was not feeling well, but on Saturday he released and admitted at United Medical Center in Southeast Washington where he died on early Sunday.   

The cause of death did not reveal while he had suffered from many health diseases in recent years such as kidney problem from diabetes and a high blood pressure. He had done a kidney transplant in 2009. 

He was elected mayor four times in 1978, 1982, 1986 and 1994 and left the mayor office in 1999. By his passion of politics again he elected to the District of Columbia Council from a hard-pressed section in Southeast Washington in 2004 as he served until his death.     

He was arrested in 1990 during his third mayor time period, the videotape released by FBI in a sting operation in which he was using the smoking crack cocaine with a female friend.  This operation led to Barry a six month prison sentence.   

"He came to Washington as a champion of the downtrodden and the dispossessed and rose to the pinnacle of power and prestige," the newspaper wrote. 

Marion Barry was born on March 6, 1936, in Itta Bena, Miss and he died just a few months after the publication of his autobiography, “Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr.”  

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