Former Mayor Buddy Cianci, the wisecracking political rogue who presided over the revitalization of Providence during two stints in office cut short by criminal charges and a prison sentence for corruption, died Thursday. He was 74. Cianci's employer, WLNE-TV, and a friend, Artin Coloian, confirmed his death. Coloian said he died Thursday morning. He did not release the cause. WLNE said he was taping his weekly TV show, "On the Record with Buddy Cianci," Wednesday evening when he had severe stomach pains and was taken by ambulance to Miriam Hospital.

Cianci was elected to six terms as mayor, a period that coincided with the resurrection of Providence from a decaying, Industrial-age relic to a 21st-century city with gondolas plying newly uncovered rivers. His bare-fisted style of politics made Cianci larger than life even in a tiny state known for the outsized personalities of its public figures.

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Source: http://newbostonpost.com/