Sad news from the Peninsula Tuesday as San Carlos announced the death of its mayor, Omar Ahmad.
The death was unexpected. The city official said Ahmad dialed 911around 7 a.m saying he was feeling ill Tuesday and when paramedics arrived he was unresponsive. He was taken to a nearby hospital, but doctors were unable to save his life. He died early Tuesday.
Ahmad was elected as a member of the city council in November 2007. The council appointed him mayor and his term was supposed to go through November 2011. The job of mayor in San Carlos is a part time position. Here is his State of the City speech from March.
His other job was that of a start up specialist. He was a Silicon Valley techie before running for office and continued that work while in office. He moved to the Bay Area to work for @Home Networks and then Netscape. His city biography says he was the CEO of a new Silicon-Valley technology startup CynCH Energy Corporation, which is renewable energy company.
Ahmad was single. He has siblings who live in Florida who have already been notified of his death.
The city issued this statement:
It is with great shock and sadness that the City of San Carlos has learned Mayor Omar Ahmad passed away earlier this morning. Those of us at City Hall who had the opportunity to work with and get to know him re devastated by his loss. Omar's dedication to the citizens of San Carlos and his passion for democracy will be greatly missed. Out thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
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He was recently in the news during a dispute with its fire department. Ahmad was the spokesman for the city to news crews covering the story about an idea to merge the San Carlos fire department with the Redwood City fire department.
He was an avid Giants fan, who liked to share his passion for his team on Twitter. Last year he was featured on Ted Talks on the topic of "Political Change With Pen and Power."
Ahmad was also an avid photographer, pilot and mountain climber. His bio says he successfully climbed the summits of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Elbrus.
