FILE PHOTO - Mayor Rob Ford pauses while participating in a mayoral debate in Toronto on July 15, 2014. Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford died of cancer, at the age of 46, on Tuesday, March 22, 2016.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
March 25, 2016 - 10:57 AM
TORONTO - Rob Ford's family has posted a video tribute to the controversial former mayor of Toronto set to a Puff Daddy song that was itself a tribute to murdered friend The Notorious B.I.G.
The four-minute video features clips of supporters hugging Ford while Faith Evans's voice from the track "I'll be Missing You" plays.
Ford served as mayor from 2010 to 2014 and died of cancer, at the age of 46, on Tuesday.
Dan Jacobs, Ford's chief of staff, says the video tribute was requested by his family and made by local filmmaker Tharanga Ramanayake.
The video shows Ford as mayor, and while he was running for re-election, talking about his track record, and encouraging people to vote.
One woman, who is shown carrying three "Ford Nation" flags in one hand, says the scandal-plagued mayor was "a gift from heaven."
"He came to my building. It was a ghetto building too!" another supporter said. "I got to take a picture with him! That man's a real celebrity. A real hero."
Another clip shows the former mayor downplaying his Hollywood status.
"I don't look at myself (that way)," he says. "I'm just an average person that watches taxpayers' money, returns phone calls and does what the taxpayers want."
On Monday, mourners can pay their respects to the late councillor as his body will lie in repose for two days at city hall.
A procession Wednesday morning will start from city hall and end at St. James Cathedral, where a funeral will be held. After the service, Ford's family will leave for a private ceremony.
Jacobs says that the Ford family wants members of the public to continue sending their own short tribute videos and photographs to robfordmemorial@gmail.com for inclusion in a montage at Wednesday's celebration of life.
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News from © The Canadian Press, 2016