TORONTO — Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has died, according to Ford’s chief of staff, Dan Jacobs. Ford, 46, gained international notoriety after a video showed him using crack cocaine in May 2013.
Ford had been hospitalized and in palliative care as he battled cancer.
Ford served as mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014 after a decade in the City Council.
He drew worldwide notoriety in May 2013 when cell phone video appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine. Despite at first denying the use of illicit drugs, he admitted to it six months later, after which the City Council stripped him of most of his mayoral powers.
Ford launched a re-election bid and then spent two months in rehab, after which he returned to campaigning. But he had to abandon his re-election bid in September 2014 after being diagnosed with a malignant liposarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that doctors said spread from the fatty tissue of his abdomen to other parts of his body.
Ford was instead elected councilor for the seat he previously held, Ward 2 — his birthplace of Etobicoke North.
