SAN ANTONIO – Former San Antonio Mayor Lila Cockrell died on Thursday at age 97.
"If there were a Mount Rushmore for our city, Lila Cockrell would be on it," said Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a statement.
Cockrell was the first woman to serve as the city's mayor, when she was sworn into office in 1975 after serving on San Antonio City Council for a decade. She served as mayor until 1981. She also served as mayor from 1989 to 1991.
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Cockrell launched Hemisfair '68, when the World's Fair came to San Antonio.
She was inducted into the Texas Woman's Hall of Fame in 1984.
Cockrell served as the president of the San Antonio Parks Foundation from 1998 until she retired in 2013.
"I'm looking at what I'm going to be doing," Cockrell said at age 90. "I'm not going to be sitting in a rocking chair, I can tell you that."
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The Lila Cockrell Theatre in downtown along the San Antonio River is named in her honor.
Memorial services have not yet been announced.
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Her cause of death is yet to be publicized.
More from Nirenberg:
"She was a great San Antonian. I deeply valued our friendship, which started through a mutual appreciation for jazz music, the arts and our environment. Lila's generosity with her time, knowledge and insight was incredibly helpful. She was a consummate statesman."
"She exuded class and never involved herself in the pettiness of politics despite all of the years that she was in the center of political life in San Antonio. She was a stellar role model for young women and young men. I don't think she gets proper credit for ushering in an era of equal representation."
"She really did bridge the gap into the single-member district era. There would be no modern San Antonio without her leadership through that transition. In addition to serving on City Council and two separate stints as mayor, Lila continued to dedicate her life to public service as president as of the San Antonio Parks Foundation for 15 years in addition to numerous other roles."
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“She was a towering example of civic engagement at its finest. Her quiet but powerful service-oriented activism throughout her life was truly an inspiration to all who care about San Antonio and admire true leadership.”