Mourners pay tribute to Arroyo.
A retired clerk, Alberto Arroyo, dubbed the "mayor of Central Park," passed away at the age of 94 on Thursday, March 25, 2010. For years Arroyo had been a fixture on the bench by the Reservoir for the past decades; in the fact the bench bares a plaque with his name. Claiming to be the first man to jog around Central Park's Reservoir in 1937, Arroyo, when not running the 1.6 mile loop, would spend up to 10 hours a day sitting on his bench talking to friends and strangers alike. Upon hearing of his death, frequent runners through the park assembled an impromptu memorial to honor Arroyo at the South Gate House.
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