He inspired the city’s historic tenant protection laws and his story became a rallying cry for affordable housing at a time of skyrocketing rents in Silicon Valley.

But for Paul Mayer, who was evicted from his apartment of 44 years in west San Jose, the movement didn’t come soon enough.

Mayer died Thursday morning at the age 93, surrounded by family.

In his final days, his daughter reminded him of the many lives he touched.

“I told him how many people’s lives he affected and how much people loved him,” Anne Sherman said.

The World War II pilot’s housing odyssey began last year when his landlord told him he had to leave his studio apartment on Magliocco Avenue so she could renovate the building. Mayer, who had managed the complex for 25 years under a previous owner and was paying just $525 for the studio, was unsure where to go and attempts by his family to convince the landlord to allow him to stay fell flat.

At the time, unlike other major cities such as San Francisco, San Jose didn’t have a “just-cause ordinance,” which mandates that landlords offer a compelling reason to not renew a lease. That meant people like Mayer, who worked in sales before retiring, could be forced out and into a housing market with astronomical prices.

But his story garnered widespread attention, and in April of last year the San Jose City Council passed new tenant protections, including a “just cause” policy. The policy does say that substantial renovation qualifies as a reasonable cause to terminate a lease. But the law would have required Mayer’s landlord to give him more advance notice, the option to return after the renovations and assistance to relocate.

“We are elated,” Mayer’s son Robert told this news organization at the time. “I believe my dad’s story was a catalyst to the change because it really brought to light that this really needed to be addressed. This decision has been years in the making. People can sleep at night not in fear of waking up in the morning to an eviction notice.”

But it was too little too late for Mayer, who moved last June into an apartment in Santa Clara. The move, Sherman said, was jarring for her father.

“I believe his eviction was so traumatic for him that he was never able to recover from it,” Sherman said Thursday from the apartment, where Mayer took his last breaths.

Sherman said Mayer was so “tortured” by his eviction that he stopped taking medication for congestive heart failure last November. He also suffered from skin cancer. Under hospice care and surrounded by family in recent days, Mayer passed away at his new apartment after becoming unresponsive Monday.

“This is what eviction does to the elderly,” Sherman said. “They cannot handle these kinds of life changes at their age.”

Mayer leaves behind six children — Chuck, Jon, Robert, Anne, Paula and Michael — and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“Every time he saw us he expressed his appreciation and love for us,” Anne said. “He understood not everybody has family.”

A former second lieutenant with the Army Air Corps who flew B17 planes during the war, Mayer “was kind and he was compassionate, he was fair and he led his life with grace and dignity,” Anne said.

That much was evident in a list of resolutions he lived by, she said. Among them: “Resolve to be cheerful and helpful. People will repay you in kind,” and, “Resolve to listen more and to talk less. No one ever learns anything by talking.”

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Bill Gates Sr., father of Microsoft co-founder, dies at 94 Because of his advanced age, he had become less active in recent years. But one thing that stayed with Mayer until the end was his sense of humor.

“Anybody who was around my dad got that sense of humor,” Anne said. “It was unique and it was quick and it’s something we’ll all miss so much.”

The family is still working out details for a memorial service.