By Joan Crigger
June 29, 2009

Former Lincoln (NE) Mayor and first woman elected President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors Helen Boosalis died from a brain tumor on June 15.

Boosalis was elected President of the Conference in 1981 and served a one-year term. She was President of USCM during the early 80's when cities, at that time, were in their worst economic crisis in history with double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment and shrinking revenues, very similar to the current economic crisis. "Times were bleak indeed," she said last year when she spoke to the Women Mayors during the 76th Annual Conference in Miami.

During her role as President, Boosalis convened a National Urban Conference on Federalism in Chicago to examine the role of federal, state and local relations. It was successful in helping to stem the tide in aid away from cities and in saving programs such as CDBG. Boosalis often said that being mayor was the "most challenging and also the most rewarding job on earth."

Boosalis was elected the first woman mayor of Lincoln in 1975 and served until 1983.