Joe Lyons, former mayor and councilmember, dies at age 77
Joe M. Lyons, a former Claremont City Council member and mayor, died Thursday, city officials announced. He was 77.
Lyons died surrounded by his loved ones, according to a news release from the city, which lowered its flags to half-staff in his honor for the next week.
Serving two terms on the City Council from March 2011 to November 2018 and as mayor in 2014-15, Lyons was a familiar face at City Hall and in the community.
During his time in office, Lyons served as the council representative to the Tri-City Mental Health governing board, the Six Basins Water Master board, the Pomona Valley Transit Authority, Foothill Transit, and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.
After his retirement in 2018, Lyons continued to attend council meetings, often speaking during public comment to share his perspective on city issues.
In recent years, Lyons served on the boards of the Pomona Valley Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Inland Valley Chapter of Death Penalty Focus, and was a delegate to the Tri-City Mental Health Center’s Mental Health Services Act Planning Process.
“Joe Lyons was so much more than a councilmember and mayor,” Claremont Mayor Jed Leano wrote via text message Friday morning. “He was the San Gabriel Valley’s original champion for affordable housing and homelessness, inspiring a new generation of housing and homelessness advocates.
“Before there was Measure H, Housing Claremont, Inclusive Claremont, or Claremont Tenants United, there was Joe Lyons,” Leano continued. “We must never stop fighting for Joe’s vision of housing all our neighbors.”
Lyons was born in Fresno and raised in Boston before his family moved to San Diego. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology from San Diego State University, and later earned his doctorate in immunogenetics from Vrije Universiteit Medical School in Amsterdam.
Shortly after, Lyons started his career in medical research at the UC San Diego, where he worked from 1972 to 1983. He retired from the position he helped create in the infectious diseases research laboratory at the City of Hope National Medical Center in 2009.
Many residents took to social media Friday to share memories of Lyons and his impact on the city.
“I am saddened by this news, but so grateful for the legacy that Joe leaves. He was a good man with a big heart and a generous nature,” wrote Kolzow Fagan on the city’s Facebook page. “I will miss his mentorship and his unique sense of humor. Truly one of Claremont’s finest.”
Lyons, a father of four sons, moved to Claremont in 2002 and lived with his life partner, Sharyn Webb.