Methuen Mayor Neil Perry died on Saturday, his office said in a statement.
His office said he fought many health battles over the last several years but came back from each of them with renewed vigor and dedication to his job. He was 65 and was battling kidney disease, according to the Eagle-Tribune.
Methuen City Councilor D.J. Beauregard will serve as acting mayor pending a special election to replace Perry, the Methuen City Council and mayor’s office said in a joint statement. The city’s charter requires the special election to be held within 60 days.
Each year, the City Council elects one of its members to serve as acting mayor in the event of a vacancy. Beauregard’s colleagues elected him to this role in a unanimous vote on Jan. 4, the statement said.
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Beauregard said Perry left behind a legacy of leadership that “moved Methuen into a new era.” He called Perry an ally, mentor, and friend.
“As Acting Mayor, I will use the lessons I learned from him to keep our city moving forward over the next 60 days until a special election to select a permanent successor is held. I ask each of us to keep the Perry family in our thoughts and prayers,” Beauregard said in a statement.
Perry was first elected mayor of the city of about 50,000 people in 2019 and was reelected to a third term last year.
After his death was announced Saturday night, politicians and public servants across the state expressed sorrow for his passing and praised his legacy as mayor. State Representative Francisco E. Paulino, whose district includes parts of Methuen and Lawrence, told the Globe that he spoke with a member of Perry’s family and Methuen’s police chief, who said Perry passed away Saturday afternoon.
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“He was a great man, a man dedicated to the city he loved,” Paulino said during a phone interview Saturday night. “He gave so much to the city. He sacrificed his health and time with his loved ones for the city he loved.”
Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll expressed condolences to Perry’s family and the Methuen community in a statement released shortly after his death was announced.
“Mayor Perry was a wonderful and caring person, and a strong and courageous leader. He believed in and gave so much to his community. He will be deeply missed,” the statement said.
Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger called Perry a great friend and a dedicated civil servant in a statement, and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio said the city “suffered a terrible loss tonight” on the social media platform X.
Perry was a lifelong resident of Methuen, according to his campaign website. He graduated from Central Catholic High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and Spanish from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He worked as a state-certified transitional bilingual educator in the Methuen Public Schools district. Following layoffs, he pivoted to a career at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, where he worked for more than 30 years, according to his campaign.
Perry ran for mayor in 2019 and focused his campaign on bringing transparency and fiscal responsibility to the mayor’s office. During a local TV debate leading up to the election, he opened up about a contentious divorce with his second wife, who filed a restraining order against him, which he had overturned.
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During his first term as mayor, he weathered scandals involving the Methuen Police Department and the exorbitant pay of a former police chief, Joseph Solomon, who made almost $326,000 in 2019, the year before Perry took office.
To help balance the city’s budget, Perry cut his own salary from $80,000 to $68,000, the Globe reported at the time. Solomon and an officer he hired were later indicted by a statewide grand jury in 2023 as part of an investigation into fraud and corruption.
At his State of the City address in 2023, Perry said Methuen had a surplus of funds after being $4 million in debt when he was first elected, according to the Eagle-Tribune. He spoke of plans to upgrade the city’s athletic fields and parks and improve its roadways and sidewalks.
At his inauguration on Jan. 6, 2020, Perry said his “personal integrity is everything to me.”
“I would encourage you to challenge my ideas — that will make them better — but I will never do anything that will make you question my integrity,” he said. “I want us to think big, and I want us to be aggressive. Building community isn’t just about what our government can do. It’s really about what we all can do.”
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.