William Donald Schaefer Dies

William Donald Schaefer—Baltimore's legendary former mayor, Maryland governor and state comptroller—died Monday at around 6:30 p.m. in his bed at the retirement community in Catonsville, according to his longtime friend Lainy M. LeBow-Sachs.

"I was with him holding his hand," LeBow-Sachs told Patch. "He couldn't speak."

Schaefer, 89, was released from the hospital earlier this month after a five-day stay for pneumonia. LeBow-Sachs said she did not know the official cause but said it was likely multiple "organ shutdown."

"There will never be another William Donald Schaefer," LeBow-Sachs said. "I think everyone will be so incredibly sad. He was an icon. He touched everybody's life in Maryland."

Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered the state flag flown at half-staff immediately and ordered that Schaefer will lie in state in the State House in Annapolis, where he served as governor for eight years and as comptroller for two terms, and in the rotunda of Baltimore's City Hall, where he served as mayor for 15 years.

"I join all Marylanders in mourning the loss of one of our own—Maryland's indomitable statesman, William Donald Schaefer," O'Malley said in a statement. "William Donald Schaefer loved his city and his state with great exuberance because there was nothing more important to him than the people he served with such loyalty."

The Baltimore Sun published a nine-page online obituary of Schaefer that can be found here.