Frank Melton | Jackson mayor, 60

Frank Melton, 60, the mayor of Jackson, Miss., died yesterday, two days after losing a primary reelection bid and days before he was set to stand trial on federal civil rights charges.

Mr. Melton died at a Jackson hospital with his wife by his side, city spokeswoman Goldia Revies said.

He had a history of heart problems, but officials have declined to say if that was what sent him to the hospital Tuesday, shortly after polls closed.

Trial had been set to start Monday for Mr. Melton and a former bodyguard, who each faced two federal civil rights charges related to a sledgehammer attack on a duplex Aug. 26, 2006, that Mr. Melton considered a crack house.

He and the bodyguard, Jackson Police Officer Michael Recio, were acquitted in April 2007 on state charges related to the duplex raid.

Mr. Melton came to Mississippi from Tyler, Texas, in the 1980s to run the NBC affiliate WLBT-TV. He soon made a name for himself with an opinion piece called "The Bottom Line," in which he called out criminals and verbally attacked city officials he considered ineffective.

"And that, my friends, is the bottom line," became his catchphrase.

He became a fixture in poor neighborhoods, where he would talk to youngsters about personal accountability and hard work. He tried to broker a cease-fire among gangs and volunteered as a swim instructor at an area YMCA. He also took dozens of troubled youngsters into his gated-community home over the years.

He was elected mayor by a landslide in 2005 after campaigning on a tough-on-crime platform. After that, however, he was hounded by legal problems related to his unorthodox tactics. - AP