By James Peters

Mark Towhey remembers former boss Rob Ford

Mar 22, 2016 | 3:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — The former Kamloops man who once served as Rob Ford’s chief of staff is remembering the notorious ex-Toronto mayor as a champion of the common Torontonian.

Ford died of cancer today at the age of 46.

Mark Towhey grew up in Kamloops and served as Ford’s chief of staff until Ford fired him at the height of the crack video scandal in May of 2013.

Towhey says Rob Ford was the one person he would never bet against, and part of him thought he would beat cancer.

“I know when he was first diagnosed with cancer in 2014, it seemed bad, but he seemed to seemed to beat it then. Then I heard he was in terrible condition over the weekend, but it seemed to turn a corner maybe for the better yesterday,” said Towhey, adding “I was thinking, ‘You know what, this guy can beat anything.’ Well, I guess not. This is the one thing he finally couldn’t beat. It caught up with him and it’s still a bit of a shock.”

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Towhey says much of the country will remember Ford for his antics while in the throes of drug addiction, but many Torontonians will remember him as someone who truly cared about eliminating waste at city hall, and improving the city operations that affected their lives the most.