George Sullivan, the mayor who steered Anchorage's city government into a modern municipality, died at home Wednesday night of complications from lung cancer.

His eldest son, Tim, said his father died peacefully in his sleep at 10:08 p.m. He was surrounded by his family. He was 87.

A lifelong Alaskan, Sullivan was born on March 31, 1922, and raised in Valdez.

He had a long and storied career in Alaska and its politics. He was a deputy marshal in Nenana, a city councilman in Fairbanks and Anchorage, and became Anchorage's city mayor in 1967.

He held that position until the old Anchorage city and borough governments unified under a new charter in 1975, when Sullivan won election as the new municipal government's first mayor.

He served the charter-limited two terms in that position.

Altogether, Sullivan held the top post in Anchorage's city government for 14 years, longer than any other person.

He and his wife, Margaret Eagan Sullivan, had 9 children. Margaret Sullivan died in 2007.

One of his sons, Dan, is Anchorage's current mayor.

Funeral arrangements are pending.