Reports: former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford dead at 46

Multiple news outlets are reporting that former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has died at age 46.

The longtime Toronto politician came to international prominence in 2013, when the Toronto Star and Gawker wrote about video footage that showed the mayor smoking crack cocaine with local gang members.

What followed was what the Toronto television channel CTV described as one of “the weirdest periods in Toronto political history,” with Ford ultimately admitting to crack use and resigning from office in April 2014.

Ford was diagnosed in September with pleomorphic liposarcoma, a rare and difficult-to-treat cancer (you can read more about the disease here). He had spent the past five days in the hospital before his death, moving to palliative care treatment on Monday.