W Edward Bohrer Jr., the four-term mayor of Gaithersburg, Md., died on August 27 at the age of 58. A public servant of vision and integrity, he was an important role model in the early days of the New Urbanism.

Together with developer Joe Alfandre, he led the city council and the staff through the many intricacies required for the building of Kentlands. His interventions were not confined to the granting of permits, they involved attention to detail during ten years of Kentlands' buildout. He ably maintained the vision of the commercial center against all odds. He innovated by requiring the reservation of city-owned civic buildings at the center of Kentlands so that the heart of this community would remain continuously accessible to all the citizens of Gaithersburg.

More recently, Mayor Bohrer persuaded all concerned that the parcel adjacent to Kentlands should be designed as a seamlessly attached neighborhood. In effect, Lakelands will double the size of Kentlands.

Mayor Bohrer arranged for the revitalization plan of the historic center of Gaithersburg on New Urbanist principles. At the time of his death, he was in the process of mandating retrofit of the strip highway that bisects Gaithersburg

He became an energetic advocate for the New Urbanism from the point of view of elected officials. Kentlands thus became one of the models for the Smart Growth initiative of the State of Maryland and for the New Hope VI standards promulgated under H.U.D. secretary Henry Cisneros.

The Mayor led a unified council over uncharted ground with his trademark audacious but comforting stricture: Trust but verify.

There will be a performance hall named in his memory in Kentlands and a Square in the downtown of Gaithersburg.