Bierman was 82 years old; she was first elected into office in 1992 at the age of 68. She had just been appointed by Newsom to the Port Commission two weeks ago. She served on the Board from 1992-2000 and who else but Matt Gonzalez took her seat on the board after she termed out.
While on the board, Bierman spearheaded such efforts as attempting to tear down the Central Freeway, trying to ban owner move-in evictions, banning live-work lofts, and stopping TICs. (Thank goodness for the "search full archives" function on SFGate; we weren't really paying attention to local politics when Bierman was in office.)