Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Pittsburgh's mayor from January 2006 until his death in September 2006. Born Robert E. O'Connor, Jr. he graduated from Pittsburgh's Taylor Allderdice High School in 1962. After working briefly as a steelworker, he entered the restaurant business and eventually became executive vice-president of the Pappan chain of restaurants in the Pittsburgh area. In 1991 he began his political career when he was elected to the Pittsburgh City Council. In 1997 and 2001 he ran in the Democratic primaries for mayor, losing the 2001 nomination by only 699 votes. He was elected City Council President in 1998 and resigned from that position in 2003 to work for Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. In 2005 he won the Democratic nomination for Mayor of Pittsburgh and defeated the Republican challenger, Joe Weinroth, for the office. During his brief tenure he started the "Redd Up Pittsburgh" campaign ("Redd up" is a Pittsburgh English term which means "to clean up" or "straighten up".), and strongly emphasized the positives of the city. In early July 2006 he complained of chronic fatigue and after undergoing medical tests, he was diagnosed with primary central nervous system lymphoma, a rare brain cancer. Although his prognosis was initially good after intense treatment, his condition deteriorated the following month. During his illness thousands of black and gold rubber bracelets, inscribed with the words "Bob O'Connor...Everybody's Mayor" and "The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society" were sold. He died at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center age of 61. On November 17, 2006, the O'Connor family was presented with the Hall of Fame Shining Lights Award for the former mayor's "Redd Up Pittsburgh" initiative and he was the first recipient of this award.