BRIDGETON — Terry Briggs, Bridgeton’s mayor since 2015, died Wednesday, his family said.
Briggs, 68, died at his home of a sudden health complication, but an exact cause of death is unknown, his son Jeremy Briggs said Thursday.
Briggs was reelected in April to his third four-year term as mayor of Bridgeton, a city of about 11,300 residents between the Missouri River and St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Briggs served the city tirelessly with “dedication and passion,” City Administrator Kevin Bookout said in a news release.
“Mayor Briggs will be remembered not only for his accomplishments in office but also for his kindness and genuine concern for the well-being of others,” Bookout said. “His passing is a profound loss for our community, and his legacy will continue to inspire us for generations to come.”
People are also reading…
As mayor, Briggs was perhaps best known for pressing federal officials to clean up World War II-era radioactive waste buried at West Lake Landfill, supporting efforts of local residents and activists.
“People want to see some action,” Bridgeton Mayor Terry Briggs told the Post-Dispatch in 2022, after the Environmental Protection Agency mapped the site but had yet to begin any cleanup. “I think it’s time to put the studies to work.”
U.S. Representatives Ann Wagner, R-Town and Country, and Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, also remembered Briggs for his work on addressing the waste at Westlake in public statements commemorating his public service.
“He cared so much about our community and he will be missed by all,” Wagner said. “Terry was a wonderful public servant and I am grateful to have worked hard and fought together on so many important local issues.”
“He championed the cleanup of Westlake Landfill and always worked to improve the lives of our Bridgeton community,” Bush said. “A true public servant, it was an honor to work with him.”
Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel, founders of Just Moms, a local activist group, said Briggs “returned every one of our many phone calls with good grace.”
“He hosted innumerable public and private meetings as we worked together to hold the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for the nuclear waste it has allowed to linger in Bridgeton for decades,” Chapman and Nickel said in a statement. “He was not afraid to be impatient with federal bureaucrats.”
Briggs, who grew up in Woodson Terrace, another north St. Louis County municipality, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia and settled in Bridgeton after moving to the St. Louis area, his son Jeremy said. He ran for office in Bridgeton because he loved the community, he said.
Briggs was also a devoted husband, father and grandfather, Jeremy Briggs said. He is survived by his wife, Lorie, son Josh, daughter Haley and three grandchildren.
“We just loved to be with him,” said Jeremy Briggs, of unincorporated St. Louis County.
In addition to public office, Briggs was a longtime government relations director and executive director for SITE Improvement Association, a contractor group, and previously worked for the Metropolitan Sewer District.
A public visitation will be held Sunday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Collier Funeral Home at 3400 North Lindbergh Boulevard.