Mayor Omar Ahmad

San Carlos, CA – May 10, 2011 – It is with great shock and sadness that the City of San Carlos has learned that Mayor Omar Ahmad passed away earlier this morning.  This morning 911 received a call from Mayor Ahmad, paramedics responded to his home and transported him to Sequoia Hospital.  Mayor Ahmad was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

Omar was elected to the San Carlos City Council in 2007.  He had previously served as a member of the City’s Economic Development Advisory Commission (EDAC).  While on the City Council, Omar selected to serve as the Mayor of San Carlos in November by his fellow Council Members.  During his term on the City Council, Ahmad also served on several committees and boards including the Airport Roundtable,  C/CAG Airport Land Use Committee (ALUC), Caltrain Board of Directors, San Mateo County Council of Cities, Economic Development Advisory Commission (EDAC) (Council Liaison), Harbor Industrial Association (HIA Council Liaison), Peninsula Congestion Management Relief Alliance,  San Carlos Green (Council Liaison) and SamTrans Board of Directors (Council of Cities Appointment).

He was a well known entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, having been involved in the start up of a number of companies over the years including the Discovery Channel, @Home, Trusted ID, Grand Central Communications, Napster, Netscape and most recently as the co-founder and CEO of SynCH nergy Corporation.

City Manager Jeff Maltbie said “Those of us at City Hall who had the opportunity to work with and get to know him are devastated by his loss.  Omar’s dedication to the citizens of San Carlos and his passion for democracy will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.”

1. 

   Ben Fuller says:

   May 11, 2011 at 4:19 pm

   This is a really sad story how we have lost Omar Ahmad, a friend and associate of mine in San Carlos for the last few years.

   The City has lost a highly effective public servant as well as a really good guy. Omar did so much to help our City out of financial trouble and move us away from a recession mentality back towards growth and prosperity. He made hard decisions and engaged people from all backgrounds and opinions. I think I can speak for all of us by saying that whether we agreed with Omar on any particular issue, we felt his passion for his job, thoroughly enjoyed his humorous interactions with us, and generally just liked Omar as a man. Omar, you will be sorely missed.

   I ran into Omar in the last month on Laurel Street and invited him for a cup of coffee at Starbucks to talk about issues near and dear to GESC. We sat down for nearly an hour, totally impromptu, at the new Starbucks on Laurel as he drank his grande coffee while I had a soy chai latte. We discussed all the political issues relevant to our neighborhood. We talked about how to get people across Holly Street to downtown San Carlos. We also talked about the Wheeler Plaza progress that had been made. I felt his genuine enthusiasm for making a difference and we connected at a human level.

   Omar, you were the guy I ended up knowing best on the City Council, a guy who reached out, wasn’t afraid to call, and always were a straight shooter. RIP, my friend.

   Ben Fuller