This is an accepted version of this page Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014.

[17] He dreamed of becoming a professional football player, and his father paid for him to attend special camps of the University of Notre Dame and of Washington's NFL franchise.

[18] In August 2000, Ford married Renata Brejniak, whom he had met in high school,[19] at All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Etobicoke.

[25] Ford first ran for Toronto City Council in 1997, placing fourth to Gloria Lindsay Luby in Ward 3 Kingsway-Humber.

According to Don Wanagas, the National Post City Hall columnist, the other councillors began to dread when Ford rose to speak.

[33] Ford proposed a cut to each councillor's $200,000 office budget, money for travel to conferences, ending city limousine usage and club memberships.

"[38] In the 2003 municipal election, Ford endorsed twelve political candidates on a platform of fiscal responsibility to take on fellow councillors: "We just need to get rid of these lifelong politicians that just give out money to special interest groups and don't serve the community.

"[24] Ford targeted Brian Ashton, Maria Augimeri, Sandra Bussin, Olivia Chow, Pam McConnell, Howard Moscoe[39] and Sherene Shaw.

[41] His zeal in attending to constituents' problems became a competitive rivalry with fellow councillors Howard Moscoe and Gloria Lindsay Luby.

[44][45] On March 7, 2007, Ford spoke out against cyclists sharing roads with motorists, which were "built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes".

[46] As councillor, Ford opposed the installation of bike lanes on University Avenue and Jarvis Street and during his election campaign, proposed spending money on off-road cycle paths.

[47] Bike lanes were installed on Jarvis in 2010 over the objection of traffic advocates, and Ford made it a priority to get them removed during his campaign.

[54] After the election, Ford had outgoing councillor Case Ootes, a former City of Toronto budget chief, head the "transition team".

For the inauguration ceremony at the first meeting of the new council, Ford had television commentator Don Cherry introduce him and put the chain of office on him.

[64][65][66] In later years, Council would reject Ford's transit plans, including not putting the Crosstown LRT underground for its entire route.

Ford participated in several debates but went on a leave of absence in May and June to deal with his substance abuse issues after a video surfaced of him smoking crack cocaine.

Ford returned from his leave of absence in July and was polling in second place, behind John Tory and ahead of Olivia Chow.

[68] On September 12, 2014, Ford suddenly withdrew his candidacy due to the discovery of a tumour in his abdomen which was suspected to be, and subsequently confirmed to be cancerous.

The Crown attorney said "there was no reasonable prospect of conviction" because there were "credibility issues" with allegations by Ford's wife due to inconsistencies in her statements.

During the Christmas Day incident, his mother-in-law called 9-1-1 between 4:00 – 5:00 a.m. local time as she was concerned that Ford had been drinking and was going to take his children to Florida against his wife's wishes.

On April 15, 2006, Ford attended a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game at the Air Canada Centre.

[84] According to reporter Robyn Doolittle, Ford would come home at night and either drink heavily or use hard drugs or prescription pills.

[54] He then announced at a press conference that he had been charged with failing to provide a breath sample, when he had been arrested and convicted of drunk driving.

[54] At Saint Patrick's Day festivities in March 2012, Ford was "very intoxicated" at City Hall and a downtown restaurant.

After "flailing around" on the restaurant's dance floor, he returned to City Hall by cab, making racial slurs to the driver.

Ford then wandered around City Hall after 2:00 a.m. with a bottle of brandy, using profane language at his staffer, Earl Provost, before security arranged for him to be taken home.

[91] In November 2013, on live television, Ford denied that he had made lewd remarks to a female aide, wherein he allegedly said he wanted to give her oral sex.

Ford, along with city budget chief Frank DiGiorgio, was denied access to the Director's Lounge at the Air Canada Centre.

He later denied being intoxicated, and blamed the incident on voting against a $10 million contribution to MLSE's plan to expand BMO Field.

[93][94] On August 11, 2016, four months after his death, the original video of Ford smoking crack cocaine was released from publication ban by the Toronto Police Service after the extortion charge against Sandro Lisi was dropped.