R.i.P. Mayor Bob

Former Reno mayor Bob Cashell died on the morning of Feb. 11. He was the city’s mayor from 2002 to 2014.

In a statement released by the City of Reno that morning, Cashell was remembered as a man who liked to call Nevada “the home of opportunity” and who “guided our city during our most turbulent times.”

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve is quoted in the statement as having said, “He touched so many lives with his larger-than-life personality. He loved the entire Reno community like they were his very own family. His legacy will forever be remembered as one of Reno’s greatest. We all love you, Cash, and will miss you more than you ever know.”

Late RN&R News Editor Dennis Myers wrote of Cashell upon his leaving the mayor’s office in 2014, “This is not an age when politicians get much positive feedback from the public. But Cashell is a throwback to an earlier kind of politics, when competing politicians worked together even while disagreeing.”

Myers wrote that Cashell “was able to bring other members of the Reno City Council to see the value in that way of doing business. One of the reasons he ran for mayor—and one of the reasons he was recruited for the job—is that Reno’s City Council then was riven by disagreements. In addition, it had alienated many residents by its high-handedness toward citizens in getting rid of the Mapes Hotel and funding the train trench.”

Cashell was 81 years old.