Rob Ford: Colourful and populist Toronto mayor whose career was derailed by drinking, obscenities and crack abuse

Ford was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2014

Ford, left, takes on Hulk Hogan in an arm-wrestling match to promote a comic book and videogame convention in Toronto in 2013 (AP)

Rob Ford was the pugnacious, populist former mayor of Toronto whose career crashed in a drug-driven, obscenity-laced debacle. He rode into office on a backlash against urban elites, casting an image sharply at odds with Canada's reputation for sedate, unpretentious politics. His tenure as mayor was marred by revelations about his drinking and drug use.

He was repeatedly videotaped and photographed while intoxicated in public, but was later elected by a landslide to a city council seat, a job he held until his death. His statements and actions as mayor became nightly fodder for TV comedians, such as knocking over a 63-year-old female city councillor while rushing to the defence of his brother Doug, who was insulting spectators in the chamber.

But his popularity continued. Even after a scandal broke about his use of crack cocaine, hundreds of people lined up for dolls of the mayor, signed by Ford himself. He spent countless hours taking pictures with residents eager to be photographed with a celebrity.

As he sought a second term as mayor in 2014, Ford was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer two months before the election date. Malignant liposarcoma in his abdomen forced him to do what months of scandals could not, drop his bid for re-election. He underwent a series of aggressive chemotherapy treatments.

When Ford was elected mayor in 2010, his bluster was widely known. A plurality of voters backed him, eager to shake things up at a City Hall they viewed as elitist and wasteful. Ford's voter base was mainly in the outer suburbs, a result of the Conservative provincial government's decision to force liberal Toronto to merge with five of its neighbouring municipalities in 1998, creating a mega-city that now has 2.7 million residents.

Ford appealed to conservative-leaning, working-class suburban residents with his populist, common-man touch and with promises to slash spending, cut taxes and end what he called "the war on the car." He first won as mayor by promising to "stop the gravy train" of government spending. His supporters got perhaps more turmoil than they expected.

The international spotlight fell on Ford in May 2013, when the Toronto Star and the Gawker website reported the existence of a video that appeared to show the mayor inhaling from a crack pipe. He denied the existence of the video but later backtracked when police said they had obtained it. Although he became the subject of a police investigation, Ford was never charged with a crime.

"Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine," he told reporters after he stepped out of a lift. "But, no, do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago."

According to police interviews, members of Ford's staff accused the mayor of frequently drinking, driving while intoxicated and making sexual advances toward a female staffer. He drew gasps when he used crude language on live television to deny telling a staffer he wanted to have oral sex. The father of two school-age children said he was "happily married" and that he enjoyed enough oral sex at home.

Disgusted city councillors turned their backs on Ford in a council meeting that day. Jon Stewart played the oral sex remark clip the same evening on The Daily Show and yelled, "What? What?! What?! WHAT!? WHAT!?"

Despite immense pressure, Ford refused to resign. The city council stripped him of most of his powers but lacked the authority to force him out of office because he had not been convicted of any crime. He announced he was entering rehab in April 2014 after newspaper reports detailed three different nights on which he was extremely intoxicated. One report cited a video that appeared to show him once again smoking a crack pipe, in his sister's cellar.

Although his cancer ultimately forced him to drop his re-election bid, Ford chose to seek re-election to his old city council seat. It was in the same suburban district where he had launched his political career and where his everyman style and conservative fiscal policies had first gained a faithful following that became known as "Ford Nation". He won his old seat in a landslide. His brother Doug replaced him in the mayoral election but lost.

The youngest of four children, Ford grew up in a palatial home in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. He dropped out of university after a year studying political science and worked as a salesman in the family business. He met his wife, Renata, in high school, and they were married in 2000. One of her few forays into the media spotlight came in 2008 after a domestic dispute. Rob Ford was charged with assault and making death threats, but prosecutors withdrew the charges, citing inconsistencies in Renata Ford's statements.

"His time in City Hall included moments of kindness, of generosity to his council colleagues and real efforts to do what he thought was best for Toronto," the city's current mayor, John Tory, said, adding that Ford was a "profoundly human guy. He was a man who spoke his mind and who ran for office because of the deeply felt convictions that he had. I know there are many who were affected by his gregarious nature and approach to public service."

Robert Bruce Ford, politician: born Toronto 28 May 1969; married 2000 Renata Brejniak (one daughter, one son); died 22 March 2016.