Ron Moeser, the veteran city councillor for Ward 44 on Toronto’s southeast edge, has died at age 74.

The soft-spoken politician announced in March 2016 that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma and would be undergoing cancer treatment.

The former electrician, first elected to council in the old city of Scarborough in 1988, was in his Toronto council chair voting on the 2017 budget in a marathon meeting in February.

He missed the late March meeting, however. Mayor John Tory stood at the start to note he had spoken with Moeser and his wife Heather. “He’s in hospital and he’s fighting — he’s fighting hard,” Tory said.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the mayor said: “During his time as a councillor — both before and after amalgamation — Ron fought for the creation and protection of public space and the natural environment, and was instrumental in the creation of Rouge Park, Canada’s largest urban park . . .

“He will be missed by his council colleagues, city staff and the communities he served with integrity and passion.”

Moeser was sometimes criticized by electoral rivals for his quiet approach to representing the ward that includes the city’s far east waterfront, Highland Creek and the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.

During the 2014 election campaign, which he joined at the last minute and won with just over one-quarter of the votes cast, Moeser made no apologies for rarely raising a ruckus at city hall.

His quiet approach, he said, has got the ward many benefits over the years. “I’m a detail person. I’m not loud or thump my chest,” Moeser said. “Some people say you could be louder and I say that’s not how I work.”

In a 2010 election campaign video he said some people call him a “pothole filler” — a councillor more concerned with ward business than big plans — but Lawrence Ave. was looking “safe and great.”

Moeser was a self-described fiscal conservative but he voted his conscience, sometimes breaking with right-leaning mayors Rob Ford and John Tory.

In 2012 he withstood huge pressure from Ford and voted in favour of a light-rail line in Scarborough rather than a subway extension, a decision over which he agonized. Moeser later embraced, with a majority of his colleagues, the idea of a subway extension and LRT line.

He also voted against Ford on Toronto hosting a downtown casino and, in 2015, against Tory and many of his suburban colleagues in favour of tearing down the Gardiner Expressway and replacing it with an at-grade boulevard.

Moeser and his wife were early advocates for preservation of the Rouge Valley. They helped bring together community associations to help create the Community Associations in Scarborough (C.O.S.C.A.) in work that eventually led to establishment of the Rouge National Urban Park.

He represented West Rouge on Scarborough council until 1997, when voters made him the first Ward 44 Scarborough East councillor on the amalgamated Toronto council.

Moeser represented the ward until his death except for one term. Community activist Gay Cowbourne defeated him in a surprise upset in 2003 and then, in 2006, declined to seek re-election in what would have been a rematch.

He once served as a TTC commissioner as well as a budget committee member and chair of Scarborough community council.

Lymphoma was not the first health problem to sideline Moeser. In 2012 a serious infection after ankle replacement surgery almost cost him a foot and kept him away from city hall for months.

Council colleague Paul Ainslie, who also represents a Scarborough ward, praised Moeser’s work for his community.

“As a long-serving Toronto city councillor, Ron first and foremost made sure his Scarborough constituents were always top of mind,” Ainslie said in an email Tuesday.

“He took pride in his ward making sure it had the best, from a wonderful waterfront, transit, community centres, down to well-cared-for playgrounds for children. He leaves behind big shoes to be filled.”

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Tory announced the Tuesday night dimming of the TORONTO sign in front of city hall, and the lowering of flags at several city buildings to half-mast. The city also invited people to write their condolences online.

Moeser leaves his wife and their three adult daughters.

City council can choose to appoint an interim councillor to represent Ward 44 until the October 2018 election, or hold a byelection. Council usually goes the appointment route when there is less than two years to an election.

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