18 Facts About Ed Lee

Edwin Mah Lee was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death in 2017.

Ed Lee took office as San Francisco city administrator in 2005 and was appointed on January 11,2011, by the Board of Supervisors to serve out the remaining term of former mayor Gavin Newsom after Newsom resigned to become Lieutenant Governor of California.

Ed Lee was born in 1952 in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.

Ed Lee's parents immigrated to the United States from Taishan, Guangdong, China, in the 1930s.

In 1989, Mayor Art Agnos appointed Lee to be the city's first investigator under the city's whistleblower ordinance.

At the time, Ed Lee promised not to seek election if appointed, a statement that helped to gain support for his appointment.

Ed Lee's term expired in January 2012, when the winner of the November 2011 mayoral election would assume office.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that unnamed city officials close to Ed Lee told the media that Ed Lee had "nearly finalized his decision" to run.

Ed Lee stated that the atmosphere of political cooperation during his months in office had inspired him to run.

Ed Lee won the November 2011 election, with John Avalos finishing second.

Ed Lee implemented a revitalization of Mid-Market, San Francisco, providing companies that moved into the area with a temporary exemption from paying San Francisco's 1.5 percent payroll tax.

That year, Ed Lee pledged to construct 30,000 new and rehabilitated homes throughout the city by 2020, with half available to low, working and middle income San Franciscans, and launched a small site acquisition program to fund the purchase and stabilization of multi-family rental buildings in neighborhoods that are susceptible to evictions and rising rents.

In December 2013, Ed Lee called for an increase to San Francisco's minimum wage.

In October 2014, Ed Lee announced that the city's minimum wage of $10.74 per hour would be adjusted to $11.05 per hour, effective January 1,2015.

In 2015, Ed Lee co-chaired the minimum wage campaign with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and worked with the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West for a November ballot initiative to gradually increase California's minimum wage to $15 an hour.

On March 20,2012, Mayor Ed Lee gave Sheriff Mirkarimi a 24-hour ultimatum to resign from his post.

Ed Lee was conscious and spoke to paramedics on the scene.

Ed Lee had a history of heart disease in his family.