Pittsburgh Mayor. Best remembered for his tenure as the 55th Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1977 to 1988. He started his public service career in the CitiParks department of Pittsburgh and then ran for city council in the early 1970s. He first ran for mayor as a longshot in 1973 but lost to the Democratic primary incumbent. During his position as President of the Pittsburgh City Council, then Mayor Peter Flaherty was appointed Deputy Attorney General in President Jimmy Carter's administration and he was appointed interim Mayor. He officially won the mayor's office in an election later in 1977. While he was in office, Pittsburgh began its "Renaissance II" plan, an urban renewal and revitalization plan which was generally considered a success but was hindered by a sharp and permanent downturn in the city's economy and resulting population shifts. During his tenure, Pittsburgh's economy began a marked downturn during the deindustrialization of the 1980s with the decline of the large steel producers such as U.S. Steel and Jones and Laughlin. Longtime industrial giants that called Pittsburgh headquarters such as Gulf Oil and Koppers both were victims of the 1980s arbitrage and hostile takeover climate. Gulf was absorbed by Chevron and Koppers by British firm Beazer, both resulting in the region losing several thousand high salaried corporate headquarter jobs. The period was also marked by Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse's run up to bankruptcy and reorganization in 1990 and Rockwell International's leaving. By the end of his time in office, not a single major steel mill operated in a city once known as the "Steel City" and the city that once had more Fortune 500 corporate headquarters except for New York and Chicago, had fewer than ten. In 1986, in response to some citizen complaints and legal action by the ACLU, the city, by order of Mayor Caliguiri, placed a plaque entitled "Salute to Liberty" and reading: "During this holiday season, the city of Pittsburgh salutes liberty. Let these festive lights remind us that we are the keepers of the flame of liberty and our legacy of freedom." Three years later, by two 5-4 decisions, the United States Supreme Court upheld in part and denied in part the city's position in County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union. He was also in a cameo playing himself in the sport/cult classic film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh in 1979. Near the middle of the film he is seen on the extreme right introducing to a cheering crowd the city's basketball team at an indoor rally. He slips off camera for a few seconds and then is seen again patting them on the back and shaking hands with the actors and coach, before he extends across the crowd to shake Julius Erving's hand and is met warmly by a surprised Dr. J. In the late 1980s, he was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare and serious protein disorder. Coincidentally, within a few years in the mid to late 1980s, three of Pennsylvania's most prominent political leaders were afflicted with the disorder. He as well as longtime Erie Mayor Louis Tullio and Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey were all diagnosed with the incurable and usually fatal disease. He refused to allow his declining health to affect his leadership and declined to step down as mayor. He had been re-elected twice and served as mayor from 1977 until he died in 1988 at the age of 56, and was interred in Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery. In October 1990, a commemorative statue of him sculpted by Robert Berks was dedicated on the steps of the Downtown Pittsburgh City-County Building on Grant Street.