San Francisco mayor Ed Lee died early on Tuesday, the mayor’s office said in a statement that did not cite the cause of death.
Lee, 65, died at Zuckerberg San Francisco general hospital, with family and friends at his side about 1.11am local time
“It is with profound sadness and terrible grief that we confirm that Mayor Edwin M Lee passed away,” the statement said.
In 2011, Lee was elected the 43rd mayor of San Francisco and the first elected mayor of Chinese descent in a city steeped in Chinese American history.
With Lee’s death, board of supervisors president London Breed becomes the mayor of the city of more than 850,000 people, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.