Longtime city servant Mahaffey was a champion for the city

Maryann Mahaffey, 81, who died Thursday after an 18-month battle with leukemia, was a champion of the city.

"Maryann Mahaffey was an extraordinary public servant," Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick told the Detroit News. He was a frequent target of Mahaffey's criticism in her final term on the City Council last year. "She will be missed, but her spirit will live on in the hearts of Detroiters forever."

Mahaffey served 31 years, eight consecutive terms, on the City Council and three times was its president, a designation reserved for the top vote-getter.

Here's the Detroit News obituary.


Other tributes:

• "One of the words most frequently used to describe Maryann Mahaffey is 'feisty.' She didn't take guff and didn't put up with what she regarded as silly restrictions on people because of their sex or race." — The Detroit News' editorial

• "Mahaffey, who died Thursday at 81, never got preachy about race.
And that was interesting, because Mahaffey was the leading white politician in the nation's biggest majority-black city. Not only did she win enough elections to serve on the Detroit City Council for 31 years, on three occasions she ended up with the most votes among those running for council -- meaning that, each time, she earned the right to be council president." — Free Press columnist Bill McGraw

• "Detroit has lost another "great heart" from its treasured family. Although Maryann Mahaffey will be greatly missed, she has been imprinted forever in so many hearts. God gave her an uncommon sense of duty."

"The passing of Maryann Mahaffey marks the end of an era in Detroit politics. There are few people of her generation left who felt as passionately as she did throughout her service to this community." — Free Press readers' responses