Thomas Menino served as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1993 through 2013. He is the longest serving mayor in the city's history. Menino first became acting mayor in July 1993, after Raymond Flynn resigned as mayor to assume the post of United States ambassador to the Holy See (Menino's then-position as Boston City Council president meant that he automatically assumed the post of "acting mayor" upon the vacancy created by Flynn's resignation). Menino was elected mayor in the subsequent 1993 Boston mayoral election, and was reelected to additional terms in the four subsequent elections, making for an unprecedented and unsurpassed five term tenure. On March 28, 2013, Menino announced that he would not seek a sixth term.