Six-time mayor of Camarillo and devoted community member Michael Morgan died in a car accident Tuesday, the city announced. His wife, Donna, survived the crash with severe injuries.
The couple was driving to visit their children in Reno when the accident took place on a Nevada highway, according to the Ventura County Star. No more details about the accident or Donna Morgan’s condition were provided by the city.
Morgan, 77, was first elected to the Camarillo City Council in 1980 and went on to serve the city for almost four decades before losing a reelection bid in 2018.
“Mike Morgan spent many years serving our community in both an elected capacity and several non-profit and church related activities,” said Camarillo Mayor Tony Trembley in a statement on Morgan’s death. “He made a significant to our city through his leadership and devotion to Camarillo.”
Morgan was born in Vernon, Texas, in 1947 and moved in 1961 to Camarillo, where he graduated from Camarillo High School in 1965, according to his city biography. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Cal State Long Beach and a master’s in public administration from USC.
He then moved back to Camarillo, where he worked as a county and federal probation officer before retiring in 1998. He and his wife have two children.
Morgan’s 38 years of service to the city were honored during a City Council meeting in 2018. At the meeting, he said one of his goals when he first ran for elected office was to make Camarillo one of the best places in the world in which to live.
“At that time, we were not rated even close, but today we’re the 23rd best place to live of cities under 300,000 in the United States,” he said, citing a 2015 report, the Ventura Star reported.
Camarillo transformed significantly during Morgan’s tenure on the council, almost doubling its population, from 37,000 residents in 1980 to 70,000 in 2018.
Morgan cited a desire to slow the rapid rate of development in the city as the key motivator for his initial council run. Shortly after retiring from the council in December 2018, he said that an ordinance that limited Camarillo to 400 new homes per year and a series of voter initiatives to preserve agricultural land were two of his crowning accomplishments, according to the Camarillo Acorn.
He also said he was proud to be involved in the construction of the Camarillo Public Library building and new police station, as well as the creation of California State Channel Islands in Camarillo.
“People don’t realize we have the city we have today because of all the efforts of [Morgan], who gave 38 years of his life” to the city, Camarillo Fiesta Assn. board member Bev Lusk told the Acorn.
Morgan was involved with more than a dozen community organizations and nonprofits including the Camarillo Arts Council, Ventura County Cancer Society, Disaster Assistance Response Team, Rotary Club, Camarillo Fiesta Assn., Camarillo Youth Advisory Council and American Legion Post 741.
