Democratic former Cincinnati Mayor Gerald Springer died Thursday at age 79, the Daily Beast reports, citing Springer’s family as saying the beloved politician had been suffering from cancer.
Springer, who served one year at the helm of The Queen City in 1975, fell short in his 1982 primary campaign to become governor of Ohio. From there he resumed a career in television and hosted an innovative 1990s daytime talk show which you could argue left a lasting impression that continues to influence American politics in the 21st century. Maybe civility and decorum went down just a notch or two in comparison to prior eras and a certain president with a not terribly dissimilar ethos as Springer accelerated that movement even further with his election.