Former Mayor Coleman A. Young, a tailor's son who overcame racism to become Detroit's first black mayor and presided over his adopted city for an unprecedented five terms, died Saturday. He was 79.
Young died at Sinai Hospital, where he had been in intensive care since July 24. The cause of death was respiratory failure, officials said."Coleman never stopped fighting. He put up a good fight," said Dr. Claud Young, the former mayor's doctor and cousin.
Young suffered a cardiac arrest Nov. 12 and was in a coma on a ventilator after he was resuscitated. He had advanced emphysema and was hospitalized several times in recent years for heart and respiratory problems.
Bob Berg, Young's longtime spokesman, called him "a man of vision."
"There are a lot of people feeling a deep sense of loss right now," Berg said.
Though Detroit was plagued by the steady shift of jobs and residents to the suburbs, crime and the decline of the auto industry in the years after he first was elected mayor in 1973, Young was always optimistic.
"This city is worth preserving," Young once said. "It has all the natural assets that it needs to make it: its geographical location, the strength of character of its people.
"You pool all these people who have a heritage of struggle and you have a powerful force," he said.
Despite criticism from some that Young was arrogant and ineffective, he was re-elected by substantial margins in 1977, 1981, 1985 and 1989.
When he announced in 1993 that he would not seek a sixth term, he said: "I've decided 20 years is enough. I'm tired."
He was succeeded by former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer, who defeated Young-backed candidate Sharon McPhail.
"The people of this city have lost a great warrior," Archer said. He had a reputation as a 24-hour leader whose passion for Detroit and furious work habits bordered on obsession.
Republican Gov. John Engler called Young, a Democrat, "a man of his word who was willing to work with anyone, regardless of party or politics, to help Detroit - the city he loved and fought for all his life."
But Young was criticized for what opponents saw as caring more about downtown development than neighborhood improvements. It was a common complaint, but one he rejected.
Young was born May 24, 1918, in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the oldest of five children. His family came North when he was 5 and eventually settled on Detroit's east side.
After leaving the mayor's office, Young maintained a generally low profile.