Congressman Sylvester Turner dies at age 70

Congressman Sylvester Turner dies at age 70, his death came just months after he won Texas’ 18th Congressional District race. He served eight years as Houston’s mayor after 27 years in the Texas House of Representatives.

Turner died in his Washington D.C. home at 5:45 a.m. after attending President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, his family said in a statement.

Congressman Sylvester Turner dies at age 70

Turner’s death came just months after he won Texas’ 18th Congressional District race. He stood as a pillar in the history of the state’s largest municipality, serving eight years as Houston’s mayor after 27 years in the Texas House of Representatives. He represented Texas District 139 from 1989 until 2016.

“We’ve lost an outstanding public official,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday at City Hall. “Experience matters folks. No one will be able to step into Sylvester’s shoes and carry on his duties because there’s only one Sylvester Turner.”

A native Houstonian, Turner was born in 1954 and grew up in Acres Homes, a predominantly Black suburb.

He graduated as valedictorian from Klein High School in 1973. And earned a political science degree from the University of Houston in 1977. He attended Harvard Law School and started a career as an attorney specializing in corporate and commercial law.

In the final stretch of his mayoral tenure in 2022, Turner announced he had been quietly battling bone cancer. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma after doctors discovered a tumor on his jaw.

Turner declared himself cancer free at the end of 2022.

“I’m a better speaker because of Sylvester,” Whitmire said Wednesday. “You just can’t understand what it’s like to be in an African American — a Black church on Sunday morning with everyone enjoying the service and have to follow Sylvester Turner speaking. He will bring out the best in you in public service.”