SFO international terminal to be renamed after late US Sen. Dianne Feinstein

SAN FRANCISCO -- On Tuesday, the San Francisco Airport Commission voted unanimously in favor of naming its international terminal in honor of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died in September.

"She was virtually an ambassador for the city and in particular an ambassador for the airport," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who spoke at the meeting.

Brown said that when Feinstein served as mayor is when the airport began to sprout.

"Just the name Dianne Feinstein will generate an instant response," Brown said. "And that response will only be positive, and it will be unparalleled throughout this country."

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Senator Dianne Feinstein has died, her office has confirmed. The former mayor of San Francisco is remembered as "a legend" and an "icon for women in politics."

Other speakers at Tuesday's meeting included San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani, Feinstein's granddaughter Eileen Feinstein Mariano and former San Francisco Supervisor Jim Gonzalez, who served as Feinstein's assistant while she was mayor.

The resolution was proposed by airport director Ivar Satero, who said the official nomination was received by former airport director John Martin and the Dianne Feinstein 100 plus Committee, a group of former colleagues and civic leaders chaired by Brown who have been campaigning for the airport dedication.

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Satero outlined Feinstein's' role in the airport's development, including leading the charge to bring a BART terminal into SFO and construction of the airport's first international terminal that opened in 1983.

Feinstein died at the age of 90 after being the longest-serving woman senator in U.S. history as well as San Francisco's first mayor and first woman president of the Board of Supervisors.

In the coming months, the commission will plan how to develop appropriate locations, designs and content to celebrate the legacy of Feinstein relative to both SFO and the city of San Francisco.

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