'One of a kind': Family, civic leaders mourn Richard Riordan at cathedral he championed

For the record:
11:21 p.m. April 28, 2023: A previous version of this story incorrectly rendered a quote by Mary Beth Riordan. She referred to her two “nieces,” not “daughters.”

In a concrete cathedral at the edge of a freeway, several generations of Los Angeles civic leaders mourned former Mayor Richard J. Riordan at a Friday afternoon Mass. Riordan died April 19 at the age of 92.

A profusion of white Phalaenopsis orchids decorated the sanctuary and a kilted Los Angeles Police Department piper played as Riordan's widow, children and grandchildren filed into the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. As mayor, Riordan championed construction of the downtown cathedral.

Mayor Karen Bass — one of three current or former Los Angeles mayors in attendance, along with Antonio Villaraigosa and James K. Hahn — gave welcoming remarks, nodding at Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore as she took her place at the lectern.

"Mayor Riordan acted with impatience," Bass said. That "healthy and heartfelt impatience" was the mark of a leader who believed the people of his city deserved "swift decisions and urgent action."

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez presided over the service, with a homily delivered by Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson of St. Monica Catholic Church, the Westside parish where Riordan had long worshiped. A children's choir with elementary school students from several campuses in the diocese sang hymns along with the cathedral cantor.

The businessman and philanthropist was remembered as a transformational figure in recent Los Angeles history who took office in the aftermath of civil unrest and oversaw the city's response to the 1994 Northridge earthquake less than a year after he became mayor. He was described as a man who believed in giving, wore his humanity on his sleeve and did things his way.

His impatience helped speed the rebuilding of the city, Bass said, adding that there was "much to learn and emulate from his time as mayor."

"He was one of a kind — brilliant, insightful, at times unpredictable, possessing the investment acumen of Charlie Munger, the comedy skills of Phyllis Diller and the charming demeanor of Mr. Magoo," Riordan's longtime business partner, Chris Lewis, declared before launching into a story about how his decades-long friendship with Riordan began at a Las Vegas craps table in 1980.

Many in the pews of the majestic cathedral wore campaign-style pins that read "Riordan turned LA around" — a nod to the "tough enough to turn L.A. around" campaign slogan that helped the Republican win his first bid for mayor of liberal L.A. in 1993.

Torgerson, Riordan's pastor of 35 years, described Riordan sitting down at a kitchen table in the Santa Monica church to give him advice when he first arrived at the parish.

"Listen to a few of these words and see if you remember," he told the room, to eventual smiles of recognition at the familiar phrases. "Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Think big. Get the best people to work with you."

Mary Beth Riordan spoke of the former mayor as a family man — a devoted father and grandfather who told unfiltered jokes, entertained a menagerie of kids and rescue animals, led ski trip vacations and was always visible on the slopes with his zinc oxide-smeared face.

"To many of you he was Mayor Riordan or even just mayor. El alcalde de Los Ángeles. To others he was a lawyer, a business partner, a teacher or a philanthropist," Riordan said. "To my son and my two nieces he was Baba, a slightly eccentric grandfather. ... To my sisters and me, he was simply Dad."

Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, who along with her husband, Bill, first persuaded Riordan to run for mayor, and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also spoke during the service.

The atmosphere on the windy church plaza after the service had the air of a family reunion, as L.A. politicos past and present sipped iced tea and nibbled chocolate chip cookies.

Former Councilmembers Richard Alarcon, Cindy Miscikowski, Bernard Parks, Richard Alatorre and Jan Perry crowded into a photo with eight current members of the City Council, as someone urged any other alumni to join.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn, former City Attys. Mike Feuer and Rocky Delgadillo, former Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, former schools Supt. Austin Beutner and former Gov. Pete Wilson were among the many local dignitaries in attendance, along with a plethora of former Riordan staffers, well-known political consultants and other current and former City Hall players.

Times staff writer James Rainey contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.