Wichita ? Former Wichita city manager Chris Cherches died Thursday of pancreatic cancer, city officials said.

Cherches, 71, was diagnosed with the disease in July after falling ill during a trip to Africa.

“We lost a giant. You would be hard-pressed to find a single citizen who has contributed more,” former Mayor Bob Knight said.

Mayor Carlos Mayans also remembered Cherches as a “real professional” who loved the city of Wichita.

“That is well documented by his imprint being on many, many projects around Wichita in the last 18 years,” he said.

Cherches and Knight are widely credited for leading the revitalization of the city’s downtown and the building of Old Town, Exploration Place and other landmark businesses.

The day before his death, Cherches toured CityArts, one of the projects he had worked on during his tenure at City Hall, Mayans said.

Cherches was taken early Thursday to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, Mayans said.

Cherches, who became city manager in 1985, resigned abruptly in December after months of media reports on operational and ethical problems at city hall. The City Council then hired him for several months as a consultant.

“I think he was very hurt,” Knight said of media scrutiny of Cherches’ last year as city manager.