By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – There will be a funeral this (Friday) morning for John Bass, who died Sunday at the age of 80. He was the city's first black comptroller, and also served as an alderman and state senator.
The service starts at 10:00 at St. Elizabeth Mother of John the Baptist Catholic Church in north city (4330 Shreve).
Bass also who served as the principal of Beaumont High School in the city.
He was elected to the state Senate in 1981, after serving comptroller from 1973-1977.
From 1991 to 1995, Bass worked as consultant or staff member to various committees of the U.S. House of Representatives.
"I can't think of a public policy issue in the 1970s or 1980s that did not have Mr. Bass' mark on it," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement following Bass's death on Sunday.
Bass had been sick for several months, said his granddaughter, Kacie Starr Triplett. Triplett is also currently running for alderman in the 6th Ward.
She noted that Bass was legally blind for the past two years.
Born in St. Louis, Bass served in the U.S. Navy. He got his college degree from Lincoln University and a master's in counseling and school administration from Washington University.
Bass' name recently surfaced in a bill to rename the stretch of Interstate 70 in St. Louis city known as Mark McGwire Highway to the John F. Bass Memorial Highway. That bill is still pending.