Scandal-plagued former Washington mayor Marion Barry dies

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Marion Barry, the scandal-plagued former mayor of Washington, D.C., who was jailed for smoking crack cocaine before making a surprising return to office, died early yesterday aged 78.

Before his fall from grace, Barry had been one of the nation’s most promising black politicians. Years later, many Washingtonians would consider him a scoundrel but he remained a hero to many others in impoverished parts of the city, even as his continuing battles with substance abuse went public.

Barry, who was serving as a city councilman, was hospitalized briefly last week and collapsed hours after being released on Saturday night, media reports said. He died at the United Medical Center in Washington, spokeswoman Natalie Williams said. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Barry served three terms from 1979 until 1991 when he went to prison for six months. He reclaimed the job in 1995.

Gregarious and charismatic, he came to be known as Washington’s “mayor for life”, a label he said he disliked but still used in the title of his autobiography “Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry, Jr.”

President Barack Obama noted Barry’s sometimes “tumultuous” life and career but said he advanced civil rights for all.

“During his decades in elected office in D.C., he put in place historic programs to lift working people out of poverty, expand opportunity, and begin to make real the promise of home rule,” Obama said in a statement on Sunday.