Former Pasadena mayor and longtime public servant William “Bill” Thomson Jr. died Sunday, Aug. 17, at age 89, according to his family.
Thomson served on the Pasadena City Council from 1981 to 1997, including a stint as mayor from 1988 to 1990.
In addition, Thomson served on the board of the Rose Bowl Operating Company, Pasadena City College, Rose Bowl Aquatic Center, Pasadena Museum of History, Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Pasadena Veterans Committee and other nonprofit boards and organizations.
His first foray into elected politics was running for a seat on the school board in opposition of a board at the time that was staunchly anti-integration.
While on the City Council, Thomson helped secure major events at the Rose Bowl, including the 1984 Olympics, UCLA football home games, four Super Bowls and the 1994 World Cup.
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo said Thomson was a friend and advisor who he spoke to regularly.
“Pasadena has lost a dedicated, hardworking public servant who deeply loved our great city and the people of this city,” Gordo said. “We certainly will miss him. I will miss his advice, counsel and friendship.”
Gordo said he learned from Thomson the importance of a municipal government providing the best services to its residents while also maintaining fiscal responsibility.
“To this day I’m proud to say that that tradition that Bill Thomson very much cemented in our city carries on,” Gordo said.
Thomson’s son Bill Thomson III said despite all his accomplishments, his dad was an unassuming man who was kind, went out of his way to make people feel welcome and was the opposite of a sharp-tongued politician.
Thomson was born in Pennsylvania but moved his family to Pasadena when his work took him to the West Coast.
“His adopted city, really from the beginning, became very important to both he and my mother,” Thomson III said.
Thomson served on the City Council during a time of more dissension among the councilmembers but that didn’t stop Thomson from working to be a bridge between those with differing points of view.
“My father had a sort of a genius for being able to get along with people and talk with them, and go out of his way to make them understand that he was listening and try to work out comprises,” Thomson III said.
Current City Councilmember Rick Cole, who served with Thomson for 10 years on the City Council, acknowledged that while he and Thomson would often be on different sides of an argument Cole never lost respect for Thomson’s character.
“This was a person who cared deeply about doing the right thing and while doing the right thing in his view and my view were often very different I never doubted that he was making decisions on what he felt was right, not for him or for his constituents, but for Pasadena,” Cole said.
Cole said whenever things got particularly heated on the council, he and Thomson would meet for breakfast to “blow off steam” and look for common ground to be able to move forward.
“He had an approach that is worthy of emulating. In fact, that’s what I’m trying to do now,” Cole said.
Gordo and former Mayor Bill Bogaard visited Thomson at the Californian Convalescent Hospital a few months ago and the trio swapped stories about the challenges each of them faced during their respective times as mayor.
Near the end, Gordo asked Thomson if he could get him anything and Thomson asked for a red and white striped candy mint.
“I invite everyone to enjoy one of those mints and remember a great friend and dedicated public servant, our friend, Bill Thomson,” Gordo said.
Thomson was survived by his wife Carol, three children and five grandchildren.
Services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, 585 E. Colorado Blvd.