Mayor Gallego on the Passing of Former President Carter

​Mayor Kate Gallego today joined many across the country in mourning the passing of former President Jimmy Carter, a devoted humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, who died at the age of 100.

"President Carter was a fighter for everyday Americans, and that commitment continued after his presidency through extraordinary humanitarian work with his wife Rosalynn," Gallego said. "I looked up to President Carter - not only because he brokered landmark peace treaties or spearheaded major domestic energy policies - but because he overcame historic challenges and accomplished incredible feats while remaining his authentic self. I especially appreciated his commitment to elevating young women to spheres of influence, and he appointed more women as federal judges than all previous presidents combined. President Carter leaves behind a legacy of service and achievement that I and so many other leaders around the country can only hope to mirror. He will be greatly missed."

Before he was elected president, Carter started his public service career in the Georgia State Senate, eventually becoming Georgia's governor. He was also the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections.

During his presidency, Carter ushered the country through major challenges-the energy crisis, Soviet aggression, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the growing domestic distrust in government sowed by the Watergate scandal. Carter had a knack for international affairs, centering his foreign policy around human rights, and successfully negotiated the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1978, for which he later won a Nobel Peace Prize.

After losing re-election in 1980, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Carter Center in partnership with Emory University, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to "human rights and the alleviation of human suffering" through "preventing and resolving conflicts, enhancing freedom and democracy, and improving health" around the world.

In January 2017, while in Arizona on one of his book tours, Carter received the Sandra Day O'Connor Justice Prize from ASU for his post-presidency humanitarian work, which at the time included advancing the peace process in Sudan, fighting malaria in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and monitoring the presidential election in Zambia.