Ferraro's unprecedented reign began in 1966. He was serving his ninth council term as president when he quietly succumbed to spleen cancer yesterday at a Santa Monica Hospital. Ferraro led the charge to secure federal funds to restore poverty-stricken Watts and used the knowledge he gained from that experience later to help re-build LA after the city's riots.

Ferraro also played a key role in shaping the city's skyline. While other members of the City Council simply rubber-stamped plans for new housing tracts in the suburbs, Ferraro often forced developers to include commercial space in their projects so new home-buyers wouldn't have to drive several miles to their jobs.

In his later years, Ferraro started concentrating on bringing more commercial development to LA's central business district. Many say the wildly successful Staples Center, the Downtown sports arena that opened 18 months ago, would never have been built if Ferraro hadn't personally wooed its frustrated developers back to the CBD.

Ferraro was the youngest son in a family of eight kids whose parents came to the US from Italy around 1910. His folks established a macaroni factory on the fringe of what is now Downtown LA, but the business went broke during the Great Depression.

Despite their financial problems, Ferraro's parents made sure their young son stayed in school. He graduated from Bell High School and earned a football scholarship to USC, where he was named an All-American in 1944 and 1947 while leading his team to three Rose Bowl championships. He then enlisted for World War II and gained an interest in politics while stationed with another young soldier--Warren Christopher, who eventually become US deputy secretary of state under President Carter 30 years later and then served in the Clinton Administration throughout much of the 90s.

In an interview with GlobeSt.com today, LA Mayor Richard Riordan said, "Ferraro was the heart and soul of Los Angeles. He was a big man and a loving man, a man who put Los Angeles first and his own agenda last.

"This city owes John Ferraro, owes him so much," Riordan says. "Unfortunately, we'll never be blessed with the likes of him again."