CATONSVILLE, Md. | William Donald Schaefer, the colorfully outspoken and combative Maryland governor and four-term Baltimore mayor who left a legacy of impressive public works projects, has died.
Former aide Lainy LeBow-Sachs said Schaefer died at 6:30 p.m. Monday at his home at the Charlestown retirement community outside Baltimore.
He was 89.
As mayor from 1971 to 1986, Schaefer earned a national reputation for overseeing the transformation of downtown Baltimore from a gritty center of urban decay into a tourist attraction.
The Democrat, a Maryland political icon who held statewide office into his 80s, battled to fill potholes as mayor and never missed an opportunity to tout his hometown, even jumping in a seal pool while wearing a turn-of-the century bathing costume and holding a rubber ducky to promote a new aquarium.
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