
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991                   TAG: 9102130313
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

ROBERT WAGNER, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR, DIES AT 80

Former Mayor Robert Wagner, who led the city from the strict rule of party bosses to a more open political process, died Tuesday. He was 80.

"New Yorkers have lost one of the best friends we ever had," Mayor David Dinkins said.

Wagner died at his home, apparently of natural causes, said Capt. Michael O'Loughlin of the Emergency Medical Service.

Wagner became mayor in 1954, backed by the Democratic Tammany Hall machine. His three terms as mayor set a longevity record matched only by Fiorello LaGuardia and Edward Koch, and he succeeded in opening the political process to allow blacks and Hispanics to emerge in city government.

He is credited with getting Shea Stadium built, saving Carnegie Hall, keeping the subway fare at 15 cents for 12 years and establishing Lincoln Center.

Wagner tearfully announced his decision to forsake politics in 1965 to fulfill a promise made to his wife, Susan, who died in 1964 of lung cancer, to care for their sons Robert Jr. and Duncan.

He tried to return to City Hall in 1969, but finished second in the Democratic primary to Comptroller Mario Procaccino, who in turn lost to John Lindsay.

He practiced law after leaving office, but kept a hand in politics.

by CNB