Los Angeles, CA – LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn has released the following statement regarding the passing of her friend and long-time colleague former LA City Councilman Tom LaBonge. Hahn also serves as the President of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and has directed the Coliseum’s torch to be lit today until sundown in honor of LaBonge’s life and legacy.
“I am still trying to process the loss of my friend Tom LaBonge. The ten years we spent together on the City Council were the best political years of my life. We sat next to each other in the Council Chambers and Tom just had a way of making everything fun. He was so excited to show up to work every day and his enthusiasm was contagious.
Everyone has a story about Tom LaBonge. And together they paint a picture of a man who was on a mission to get everyone to love Los Angeles just as much as he did. He was known for hiking Griffith Park every morning and escorting people he met to the Hollywood sign. I remember him jumping aboard tour buses and taking over for the tour guides. He asked everyone he met where they went to high school and could name the mascot for every school in LA.
I will always remember his heart and his decency. Every year he and his wife Brigid hosted Thanksgiving for the entire Los Angeles Consular Corps because he knew so many of them had nowhere to spend the holiday. His idea of being a City Councilmember was driving around in a truck personally picking up bulky items for his constituents. My mother always said he reminded her of my dad, Kenny Hahn.
I have asked that the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum torch be lit in honor of Tom LaBonge’s memory today as a fitting tribute to a man who was such an iconic part of our city.
Nobody loved this city more than Tom LaBonge and I don’t know if anyone ever will. He was and will always be Mr. Los Angeles. May my dear friend Rest In Peace.”