Veteran Toronto city councillor and deputy mayor Pam McConnell has died at the age of 71.
Toronto Mayor John Tory announced the news in city hall during a city council meeting Friday afternoon.
“Pam was a friend, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. She was also a woman who proudly served her city and the people of Toronto for more than 35 years,” he said.
“Toronto is a better and fairer city thanks to Pam’s service and advocacy.”
Tory said Thursday McConnell was “gravely ill” in hospital battling a very serious undisclosed illness.
“She will be missed by her Council colleagues, City staff and the community she served with integrity and passion,” he said. “She always worked to find common ground and consensus among her colleagues.”
WATCH: Councillor Pam McConnell died Friday at the age of 71. Ashley Carter reports.
McConnell, a former teacher, was first elected to public office as a school board trustee in 1982. Twelve years later, she was elected as a Toronto city councillor.
McConnell represented Ward 28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale and was serving her seventh term on council. After being re-elected in 2014, she was named deputy mayor for Toronto’s south end.
READ MORE: Toronto Councillor Pam McConnell ‘gravely ill,’ Mayor John Tory says
During the current term of council, McConnell served in the role of champion for the City of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. She also was a member of several boards, the Toronto and East York Community Council and the Government Management Committee.
Flags at Toronto City Hall and at the City’s civic centres will be at lowered to half-mast until the day of her funeral. Books of condolence will be available at city hall and online beginning on Saturday.
McConnell leaves behind her husband Jim and her two daughters Heather-Anne and Madeline.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been publicly announced.
WATCH: Pam McConnell attends Berczy Park opening (June 28)
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