LOS ANGELES (KNX) – Funeral services were underway Friday for former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
The Memorial Mass in Celebration of the Life of Former Mayor Richard J. Riordan was held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 2 p.m. Archbishop José H. Gomez presided the mass.
Riordan, who served as mayor from 1993 to 2001, died April 19 at the age of 92. He was the city’s last Republican mayor and was credited for helping L.A. rebuild from the 1992 Rodney King riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Riordan pushed to renovate the Downtown L.A. library and develop the Disney Concert Hall. He also expedited construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, where the memorial service took place.
Dozens of current and former officials attended the service, including Mayor Karen Bass, who delivered a welcome address before the mass.
“Long before he was mayor, he devoted so much of himself to giving back. He felt he owed Los Angeles for his success, and he spent his life paying it forward,” Bass said.
Bass praised Riordan's leadership in rebuilding the I-10 freeway in record time after the Northridge earthquake.
“When there’s a crisis, a mayor can’t make excuses. A mayor has to lead against all obstacles,” she said. “His impatience got the president on the phone, construction companies to accelerate timelines, and the state to remove barriers.”
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