Governor Jenniffer González said humility, a conciliatory attitude, a knack for dealing with people, and a willingness to solve problems "house by house" were the lessons left by former Bayamón mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Rivera, who died Wednesday at age 97. Speaking after leading an honor guard at his wake on Thursday, González called him "the last titan" of his generation of the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) and "the last titan of the statehooders."
She noted that besides serving as mayor, he took over the party presidency after the 1988 electoral defeat. Rivera Rivera led Bayamón's municipal government from 1976 to 2000, and González credited him with transforming it "from a town into a city." She called him one of the most humble PNP leaders, saying he taught mayors to visit the sick in hospitals, attend funerals, and go house by house.
She said he was not a great orator but attended to humble people and solved their problems. After his retirement, the mayoralty passed to his son Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz, who like his father had been a legislator. Another son, Eduardo Rivera Cruz, has been executive director of the Authority for the Financing of Infrastructure for several years.
González said respect for him extended beyond the PNP and, after months of internal party fights, said a return to those roots and humility is still possible.