(CNN) — Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry is dead, a hospital spokeswoman said early Sunday. He was 78.
Barry was elected four times as the city’s chief executive and was a council member for Washington’s 8th Ward at the time of his death.
His death was disclosed by Natalie Williams, a spokeswoman for United Medical Center, a public hospital in Washington.
“Marion was not just a colleague but also was a friend with whom I shared many fond moments about governing the city,” Mayor Vincent C. Gray said in a statement. “He loved the District of Columbia and so many Washingtonians loved him.”
Gray ordered flags flown over city buildings flown at half-staff.
Dogged by allegations of cocaine and alcohol abuse during his first three mayoral terms from 1979 to 1991, Barry was arrested in 1990 after a famously televised police surveillance tape showed him smoking crack in a hotel room. He was sentenced to six months in prison after a possession conviction.
He reclaimed his seat in the mayor’s office in 1995 and was re-elected to the City Council in 2004.
Over the summer, Barry released his autobiography, “Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry, Jr.” It’s a nod to his longevity in the city politics of the capital.
“In Washington, I have worked hard for the people and I’ve been loved by the people,” Barry said in a July interview on CNN. “I didn’t get elected because of my name. I got elected because I work hard for the people.”
— CNN’s Joe Sutton contributed to this report.
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