Dennis Michael Collins (June 30, 1944 – February 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, from 2014 until his death in 2015.[1][2] An Independent, he was a member of the Toledo City Council from District 2 (2008-2014). In the 2013 mayoral election, Collins defeated incumbent Independent mayor Michael P. Bell, winning 55.37% of the total vote.[3][4]
Education and personal life
A graduate of Libbey High School (1962),[5] he held a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resources Management and Natural Sciences (1975) and a Masters of Business Administration degree (1998) from the University of Toledo.[5]
He was married to Sandy Drabik and had three daughters and a son (who died in 2000).
Coronary episode and death
On the afternoon of February 1, 2015, television news bulletins reported that Collins had been hospitalized with what was described as a "coronary episode".[6] That night the mayor's spokesman announced that Collins was in critical condition after suffering a coronary arrest before being resuscitated.[7] Because he was unable to perform his mayoral duties, Toledo City Council president Paula Hicks-Hudson was sworn in on February 1, 2015, as acting mayor.[8] She is Toledo's first African American woman to lead the city.[8] Collins died on February 6, 2015, at the age of 70.[9][10]