Donald Fraser, already the city's longest-serving mayor when he stepped down in 1994, passed another milestone earlier this month.

He now holds the distinction of being the city's oldest ex-mayor ever.

Fraser, who turned 92 on Feb. 20, now has surpassed the previous longevity mark of fellow DFLer Eric Hoyer, who served from 1948 to 1957, and died in 1990. Hoyer survived two weeks past his 92nd birthday. That's according to Tony Hill, the political scientist and unofficial keeper of Minneapolis political lore.

"It's bound to happen, one way or another, as people get older," Fraser said with typical understatement. His father lived to be 95, he noted. His wife, Arvonne, only slightly younger, survived a recent bout with cancer.

Fraser shares another distinction with Hoyer. They're the oldest candidates to be elected in the postwar period, Fraser at 55 and Hoyer at 50. Al Hofstede, the mayor before Fraser, was the youngest at 33, almost a year earlier than Hubert Humphrey.

The Frasers moved several years ago from their longtime southeast Minneapolis home in the Marcy Holmes neighborhood into a high-rise condominium about 10 blocks away, where they have a perch for watching the city's physical changes downtown.

"I see all the construction going on," he said. "I'm a little bit amazed at what's gone on recently."

One of the good things about longevity is seeing how the city has turned out under his successors. "Progress is being made in the city," he said. "In the last couple of terms both the new mayor and the former have done really good jobs."

Fraser also wanted to pay tribute to Martin Olav Sabo, who succeeded Fraser in Congress after Fraser was elected mayor in 1979. Sabo died Sunday.

"He was one of the most remarkable politicians I've known," Fraser said. "Every job he got into, he eventually became a very innovative and strong leader."