Jon Lord, former alderman and mayoral candidate for the City of Calgary, has died.
News of his death first came on social media early Wednesday morning.
Craig Chandler, a close family friend of Lord's who broke the news on Twitter, confirmed to CTV News via email that he died of a massive heart attack on Tuesday night.
BREAKING - Jon Lord a great Calgarian and better friend has died of a heart attack. My heart is broken! #yyc #yyccc #ableg
— Craig Chandler (@CraigBChandler) March 26, 2014
Messages of condolence on Lord's passing came soon after:
Shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Jon Lord, a brilliant and dedicated public servant.
— Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) March 26, 2014
I had had a beer with the late Jon Lord just a few days ago. His great contributions to Calgary & good cheer will be missed.
— Derek Fildebrandt (@Dfildebrandt) March 26, 2014
Shocked & saddened to hear of Jon Lord's passing. A real champion for #yyc & ending #homelessness. Rest in peace Jon
— Tim Richter (@timrichter) March 26, 2014
Lord, who was 57, served as alderman for Ward 8 for two terms beginning in 1995.
Lord also took a shot at a provincial seat and was elected as MLA for Calgary-Currie in the 2001 Alberta election, but was defeated by Dave Taylor in 2004.
He ran for mayor in 2010 and came in fifth behind current mayor Naheed Nenshi.
Soon afterwards, he sought the federal Tory nomination for Calgary-Centre but was unsuccessful.
He ran for mayor again in 2013, but lost to incumbent mayor Naheed Nenshi with just 21 percent of the popular vote.
Lord was also known in the community as the owner of Casablanca Video in southwest Calgary.
He is being remembered by Mayor Nenshi as being committed to serving the citizens of Calgary.
"He took on leadership roles because he knew it was the right thing to do," Nenshi said in a statement on Wednesday. "Even if you didn't see eye-to-eye with him on a particular issue, the debate was always respectful. Our city has lost a champion, and far too soon, he will be greatly missed."
Funeral details will be announced in the next few days.
