Former Mayor Thomas Menino dies at 71

Thomas M. Menino: He'll be remembered long after the signs come down.

Thomas Menino, a self-described "lunch bucket guy" who rose from his roots in Hyde Park to dominate Boston and Massachusetts politics as the capital city's mayor for 20 years, has passed away after battling cancer. He was 71.

City's political world reacts to news of Mayor Menino's death

Long after signs come down, Menino's name will live on

Elected to the city's top job in 1993 after spending four months as acting mayor, Menino burnished a reputation as a tireless worker and a chief executive focused on delivering neighborhood services.

"Kevin White was the city-builder, gazing out of his fifth-floor window at cloud-topped towers," a 1994 Boston Globe magazine profile of Menino said. "Ray Flynn was the racial healer, jogging through the neighborhoods in search of social and economic justice. Tom Menino is the urban mechanic, cruising the streets with his fix-it list, wanting to know why the grass hasn't been mowed at Garvey Playground."