Former Phenix City mayor Sonny Coulter passed away at his home Thursday morning, his son, Jay, told WRBL.
Coulter was 81 years old.
Coulter had recently been hospitalized and returned to his home last week under Hospice care.
“Nobody — and I can say with certainty nobody — loved Phenix City more than my Dad,” Jay Coulter said. “And I know that my Dad would want me to say that. When he came home from the hospital, he was wearing a Phenix City hat.”
Coulter served four terms as Phenix City’s mayor. He was first elected in 1989. He also served one term on the city council.
Coulter was a native of Phenix City, having graduated from Central High School in 1961.
In a 2016 interview with the Ledger-Enquirer Coulter said, “the people of Phenix City have been very good to me.”
In that interview, Coulter told a story that helped explain his relationship with Phenix City.
“Let’s go back to something a former beloved football coach at Central High School said to me one time, Coulter said “He said, and this was before I ever got in politics, but I’ve been politicking all my life … One of the things that Tommy Garrett said to me… ‘Sonny, Phenix City is the only city I have ever seen that is classless.’”