Mike DeBonis and Martin Weil of The Washington Post are reporting that former Washington, DC Mayor and current D.C. Council member Marion Barry has died after a brief stay at Howard University Hospital.
His death was announced by his family in a statement released through a spokeswoman for Barry. DeBonis and Weil report:
“According to the statement, he died at the United Medical Center in Southeast Washington, after having been released from Howard University Hospital Saturday. Natalie Williams, a United Medical Center spokeswoman, said Barry arrived at the hospital around 12:30 a.m. and died at 1:46 a.m.”
They added:
“Mayor Vincent C. Gray said in a statement that he would work with Barry’s family and the D.C. Council to plan ceremonies worthy of a “true statesman of the District of Columbia.’
In pre-dawn statements, both Gray and mayor-elect Muriel Bowser expressed sadness at Barry’s passing. Bowser was at the hospital early Sunday and gave remarks at an impromptu news conference in the hospital auditorium where more than a dozen Barry aides and supporters gathered, some of them sobbing.
‘We are saddened and shocked and we will miss Mayor Marion Barry,’ she said. ‘He has been an inspiration to so many people and a fighter for people and a champion for the people of Ward 8. . . . He has left lessons about how to help people in the city that will live on for years and years to come.’”
In 2009, a documentary “The Nine Lives of Marion Barry” was released. The film chronicled the rise and fall and rise of Barry, whose political career was marked by triumph and tragedy of his making. Ironically, an interview between Barry and Oprah Winfrey on a episode of “Where Are They Now?” is set to air tonight at 9 p.m. The much beloved and controversial former mayor is survived by his wife Cora Masters Barry. He was 78.
Read more at the Washington Post.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
