"Mike had just learned he had cancer when he took over the presidency of the conference," said Plusquellic today at his weekly news conference. "Mike was a great guy, an excellent mayor and very enthusiastic about the USCM. He fought courageously through his disease and still worked very hard with the mayors of this country until roughly a month ago when he took a turn for the worse."

Michael Guido was the chairman of the USCM advisory board when Plusquellic was president of the conference in 2004-2005 and moved up to become president this year following the tenure of Long Beach, California Mayor Beverly O'Neil.

The mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, Doug Palmer now moves into the presidency of the United States Conference of Mayors and will fill the remainder of Mayor Guido's term before beginning his own term (June 2007-June 2008).