Louis J. Tullio, the six-term Mayor of Erie, a Democrat, was credited with helping to slow Erie's decline as a manufacturing town and preserving it as a port city and commercial center. He died died from amyloidosis.

Lou brought a consistency to area politics in a time when upheaval was the norm. He was the perfect politician for his time. The ability to reach him at home to solve your problems. His fairness in dealings with all. In my opinion he was the last of the political moguls for this area.

In October 1987 he learned that he was suffering from the disease that also took the life of a friend, Mayor Richard S. Caliguiri of Pittsburgh, in May 1988. He declined to resign or appoint an Acting Mayor, arousing considerable debate in the city and charges that the city was suffering from the absence of an active leader. He was last in his office on May 2, 1989. A Childhood Goal Mr. Tullio decided as a child that he wanted to be mayor of Erie, Pennsylvania's third largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He graduated from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., on a football scholarship and received a master's degree in education from Boston University.

He saw Navy service in the South Pacific in World War II. After the war, he opened a restaurant in Erie, became a high school teacher and a football coach.

In 1965 he lost the Democratic primary for mayor against a party leader, Mike Cannavino. But Mr. Cannavino died 11 days before the general election. Mr. Tullio replaced him on the ballot and defeated a Republican incumbent, Charles Williamson. He easily won re-election five times. Mr. Tullio ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1976.

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