Former city mayor released from hospital

Former Bloomington Mayor and U.S. Congressman Frank McCloskey was released from the hospital Tuesday after a 12-day stay. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September 2002. \nBorn in 1939 in Pennsylvania, McCloskey served as a newspaper reporter from 1961 to 1968, when he graduated from IU. He obtained his law degree from the IU Law School in 1971, and then held the mayoral office in Bloomington from 1972 to 1982. During that time, he implemented an ambulance service, a mass transportation service, civil rights service and a housing inspection program. Also during his time in office, McCloskey lobbied for federal funding to rehabilitate sub-standard housing. Elected in 1983 to Congress, McCloskey continued his fight to help and educate Americans until 1995.\nCity council member-at-large Anthony Pizzo said he has known McCloskey for almost 30 years. \n"When he was elected mayor he became the leader of the Democratic Party," he said. "He fought for the traditional kind of working man, and he is the reason why I am a Democrat."\nPatricia Cole, member-at-large of the city council, said she thinks very highly of McCloskey because he never puts himself on a pedestal.\nMcCloskey was not available for comment.\n-- Contact staff writer Mike Malik at mjmalik@indiana.edu.