D. Michael Collins

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. 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.

Education and personal life A graduate of Libbey High School (1962), 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. That night the mayor's spokesman announced that Collins was in critical condition after suffering a coronary arrest before being resuscitated. 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. She is Toledo's first African American woman to lead the city.