Former Tucson City Councilman Paul Durham dies

Paul Durham, who served on the Tucson City Council and was known in the community as an advocate for environmental issues, has died.

Durham grew up in eastern Washington State and graduated from the University of Washington and Stanford Law School, according to Durham’s Facebook page. He moved to Tucson in 2004 and was a former lawyer who specialized in business transactions and securities.

Durham was elected to represent Ward 3 in 2017 and served as a council member until he resigned in 2021. Durham was on leave for several months before his resignation after sustaining multiple rib fractures and announcing that his husband was undergoing treatment for terminal cancer, the Arizona Daily Star previously reported.

Durham’s seat was later filled by Karin Uhlich, who had previously held the Ward 3 seat. In 2021, Kevin Dahl was elected to the seat.

“When Paul was in office and I was his constituent, I admired Paul’s commitment to the environment and how responsive he was to concerns from residents in my neighborhood,” Dahl said. “He often rode his bike, but when he had to drive it was in one of the first all-electric cars I had seen. He was a loud voice for the city to get started on climate action and resiliency. For instance, he wrote a grant to obtain the first electric-powered bus in Tucson, and now Sun Tran has the biggest electric fleet in the Southwest. Paul will be missed.”

Before Durham was elected, he served as chief of staff to former council member Nina Trasoff. He also volunteered with several local groups, including the Tucson-Pima County Metropolitan Energy Commission, the Star previously reported.

During his time in office, Durham helped lead the charge to declare a climate emergency in Tucson and begin the development of a 10-year climate action plan, working alongside Mayor Regina Romero to gather community support for it, Star news stories show.

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“It is with a heavy heart that I remember my colleague, Paul Durham,” Romero said. “He was an incredible partner to me in helping to accelerate our climate action and resiliency work. His public service and dedication to the constituents of Ward 3 and the Tucson community will always be remembered.”

In a 2021 opinion piece, Durham said while he represented Ward 3, he advocated for energy performance contracting, transitioning public transit away from fossil fuels and ensuring that households receive relief from eviction during the pandemic.

In addition to his city council work, Durham was also a board member at El Grupo, a youth cycling organization that provides youth with bike-centered experiences, and on the board of directors for the Rillito River Project. 

According to Durham’s closest friends, he was an avid cyclist who rode from London to Athens after attending law school and in 2012, he rode from Vancouver, BC, to Tucson. By 2017, Durham was riding through Ward 3, knocking on doors to meet community members and standing up for environmental issues, small businesses, arts organizations and nonprofits.

"He was a tireless advocate for his city, fiercely loyal to us, and extraordinarily supportive of Philippe," Durham's closest friends said in a statement. "Now we miss them both - their friendship, dinner parties (Philippe always cooking and Paul in charge of wine), walks along the Rillito and bike rides in the mountains - but we are so greatly comforted knowing how their legacies each contribute to the beauty and uniqueness of our community."

Philippe Waterinckx, Durham’s husband and founder of Tucson Community Supported Agriculture, died last year following a battle with cancer.