Global Courant 2023-04-29 06:54:36
In a concrete cathedral on the edge of a highway, several generations of Los Angeles civic leaders mourned former Mayor Richard J. Riordan during a Friday afternoon mass. Riordan passed away on April 19 at the age of 92.
A profusion of white Phalaenopsis orchids graced the shrine, and a kilted Los Angeles Police Department piper played as Riordan’s widow, children, and grandchildren poured into the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. As mayor, Riordan advocated for the cathedral to be built downtown.
Mayor Karen Bass — one of three current or former Los Angeles mayors in attendance, along with Antonio Villaraigosa and James K. Hahn — delivered a welcome address and nodded to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore as she took a seat at the lectern.
“Mayor Riordan acted with impatience,” Bass said. That “healthy and sincere impatience” was the mark of a leader who believed that the people of his city deserved “quick decisions and urgent action.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, expresses her condolences to Elizabeth Riordan, the widow of former Mayor Richard J. Riordan.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles presided over the service, with a homily from Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson of St. Monica Catholic Church, the Westside parish where Riordan had long worshiped. A children’s choir featuring elementary school students from various campuses in the diocese sang hymns along with the cathedral cantor.
The businessman and philanthropist was remembered as a transformative figure in recent Los Angeles history who took office in the wake of civil unrest and oversaw the city’s response to the 1994 Northridge earthquake less than a year after becoming mayor . He was described as a man who believed in giving, wore his humanity on his sleeve and did things his way.
His impatience helped speed up the city’s rebuilding, Bass said, adding that there was “a lot to learn and emulate from his time as mayor.”
“He was one of a kind – brilliant, insightful, sometimes unpredictable, with Charlie Munger’s investment acumen, Phyllis Diller’s comedic skills and Mr. Magoo’s charming demeanor,” said Riordan’s longtime business partner, Chris Lewis, who previously began a story about how his decades-long friendship with Riordan began at a Las Vegas craps table in 1980.
Many in the pews of the majestic cathedral wore campaign-style pins that read “Riordan flipped LA” — a nod to the “tough enough to flip LA” campaign slogan that helped the Republican win his first bid for mayor of liberal LA. winning in 1993.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) pauses as he praises former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Torgerson, Riordan’s pastor of 35 years, described Riordan sitting at a kitchen table in Santa Monica church giving him advice when he first arrived in the parish.
“Listen to a few of these words and see if you remember,” he said to the audience, smiling at any familiar phrases. “Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Think big. Make sure the best people work with you.”
Mary Beth Riordan spoke of the former mayor as a family man — a devoted father and grandfather who told unfiltered jokes, entertained a menagerie of kids and rescue animals, ran ski vacations, and was always visible on the slopes with his zinc oxide-stained face.
“For many of you he was mayor Riordan or even just mayor. El alcalde de Los Ángeles. To others he was a lawyer, a business partner, a teacher or a philanthropist,” said Riordan. “To my son and my two daughters, he was Baba, a somewhat eccentric grandfather. … To my sisters and me, he was just daddy.
Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, who along with her husband, Bill, first persuaded Riordan to run for mayor, and Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also spoke at the service.
The atmosphere in the windswept church square after the service had the air of a family reunion, as past and present LA politicians sipped iced tea and nibbled chocolate chip cookies.
Former council members Richard Alarcon, Cindy Miscikowski, Bernard Parks, Richard Alatorre and Jan Perry crowded together for a photo with eight current city council members, while someone urged other alumni to join the fun.
Janice Hahn, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, former City Attys. Mike Feuer and Rocky Delgadillo, former Dist. Attention. Gil Garcetti, Former Schools Supt. Austin Beutner and former Governor Pete Wilson were among the many local dignitaries in attendance, along with a plethora of former Riordan staffers, well-known political consultants, and other current and former City Hall players.
Times staff writer James Rainey contributed to this report.
