Sergio Pereira, Miami-Dade's first Cuban-born county manager, died Sunday from complications with leukemia. He was 73.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Pereira was a public administration pioneer and inspired a generations in Miami government.
"Today we lost one of the most important figures in Miami-Dade's modern government and political history," Gimenez wrote on Twitter Sunday. "Sergio led our community with passion, selflessness and dedication during the Mariel boatlift crisis and during moments of both growth and turbulence."
Pereira had a long career in local government and symbolized the ascendancy of Cuban-Americans in U.S. government before resigning in 1988.
