The body of the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein will lie in state at San Francisco’s City Hall for mourners wishing to say goodbye
Mourners will pay their respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in San Francisco City Hall, where she launched her groundbreaking political career and where she spent a decade as the city’s first female mayor.
Feinstein’s body will lie in state in the City Hall rotunda, with everyone from elected leaders to city residents expected to say goodbye. She died Thursday at her Washington, D.C., home after a series of illnesses.
Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 and was board president in November 1978 when a former supervisor assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay supervisor, at City Hall. Feinstein became acting mayor, and she went on to serve as mayor until 1988.
San Francisco would not be San Francisco without her. She steered the city through the HIV and AIDS crisis, bringing attention to an epidemic ignored by President Ronald Reagan. She also secured federal and private funding to save the city’s iconic cable cars from death by deterioration.
Feinstein led the city as it played host to the Democratic National Convention in 1984. Another San Francisco tradition — “Fleet Week » — was started by Feinstein in 1981, and this year’s annual celebration of air shows, naval ships and military bands is dedicated to her.
