Rick Allen: “I rise to remember Robert B. Ganley, for 14 years the city manager of Portland, Maine, who died suddenly from a heart…”

“I rise to remember Robert B. Ganley, for 14 years the city manager of Portland, Maine, who died suddenly from a heart attack on Saturday, December 23, 2000. He was 51. Bob Ganley preached substance over style, and that is how he lived. As city manager first of South Portland and then of Portland, he revitalized our communities. A master of the budgetary process, he made local government more efficient, improved services, held down taxes, and made Portland a better place to live. His sometimes blunt demeanor could not hide a passionate commitment to his city, his family, the Portland Sea Dogs and Boston sports teams. Bob might have become a journalist, but as he told a friend who was one, 'I loved government.' Not many today understand the depth of his kind of commitment to public service. For 6 years, from 1989 to 1995, I served on the Portland City Council, including one year as mayor. I learned from Bob the importance of fighting for the long-term interests of a community against the negative passions of the moment. Bob Ganley knew that his job was to strengthen the community he served. He wanted Portland to be a place where people cared about each other and could work effectively together toward goals that transcended their individual interests. Portland today is that kind of community. When homeless people were sleeping in city parks in the late 1980s, Bob pushed the shelter program to meet his declared goal that no one would be without a bed in Portland.”