SANTA CRUZ >> Beloved community member, five-time Santa Cruz Mayor and longtime UC Santa Cruz lecturer Mike Rotkin died Wednesday at his home on the Westside of Santa Cruz. He was 79.

Rotkin, who moved to Santa Cruz in the late 1960s, was voted six times to the Santa Cruz City Council and served as mayor on five occasions during that time. He held a Ph.D. in history of consciousness and taught politics and history at UCSC for more than 50 years.

Rotkin served on numerous boards and commissions in the city and county, including the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, the Coastal Watershed Council, Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County and the Santa Cruz METRO Board of Directors, of which he served as director for multiple stints beginning in 1979. Rotkin was a proponent of labor unions and a member of UC-AFT Santa Cruz, representing lecturers and librarians at UCSC.

Often found biking around the city and enjoying the outdoors, Rotkin is survived by his wife and two adult children.

This is a developing story. The Sentinel will follow up with a full news obituary in an upcoming edition.