Friends, family and former colleagues and constituents are mourning the loss of longtime Danville councilmember Mike Doyle this month after he died peacefully at his home in town at the age of 96.
Town officials announced the news four days after Doyle’s death on Oct. 19, nearly 10 years after his retirement from the Town Council at the end of a 25-year-long tenure.
“He called Danville his ‘Camelot’ and encouraged so many to get involved, including me,” Mayor Renee Morgan said in the town’s announcement. “Mike was direct, honest and did it all with a twinkle in his eyes. He will always be affectionately remembered as ‘Da Mayor’ and his legacy will live on in the heart of Danville.”
After six terms on the Town Council and five rotations through the mayor’s seat, Doyle held the record for the town’s longest serving councilmember as of his retirement in 2016, which has since been eclipsed by Vice Mayor Newell Arnerich, who is now in his seventh term. Doyle, who first joined in 1991, was elected to his second term on the council at the same time Arnerich was elected to his first term.
“A true advocate for the Town, Mike was known for his straightforward style, commitment to fiscal responsibility, and tireless efforts to maintain the quality of life residents enjoy today,” town officials said.
Doyle was the 10th person to ever serve on the Town Council following Danville’s incorporation in 1982. He served as mayor in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 and 2015.
The longtime councilmember’s Tri-Valley roots – and affection for Danville – extended to long before the town’s incorporation and his election to the council at the age of 62, with a wide-ranging legacy that includes military service, a long career as a private investigator, a 71-year marriage, five children and 12 grandchildren.
That legacy was marked with a Lifetime Achievement Award under the Pleasanton Weekly’s former Tri-Valley Heroes program upon Doyle’s retirement in 2016, during which he reflected on his adventures in the newly formed U.S. Air Force in the wake of World War II and his arrival in California.
Born in a Pennsylvania mining town in 1929, Doyle eschewed his family’s expectations for a career in the mines after high school, instead enlisting in the military at the age of 17 and later volunteering to aid in the Berlin Airlift effort in war-torn Germany in 1948 and 1949.
After an additional three years in Germany, Doyle made his way to the Tri-Valley as the United States downsized its post-war presence in Europe, where he was stationed at the then-nascent military base that is now known as the Parks Reserve Forces Training Area in Dublin.
It was on the way to the base that Doyle first encountered Danville, according to his interview with the Weekly in 2016, where he stopped at Elliott’s to ask for directions – only to get sidetracked at the bar when he was invited to stay for a drink.
“I went out, knocked on the window and brought my buddy in there. Two days later, we left,” Doyle told the Weekly in 2016.
After numerous subsequent visits to Elliott’s during his remaining enlisted years, Doyle went on to make the then-unincorporated town his home, marrying his wife Jo Anne in 1953.
“I met a girl, got married, bought some property, got out of the service and built a house and my children were all raised here, and I’ve been here ever since,” Doyle told the Weekly in 2016.
That remained the case until his final days, with Doyle passing away at his home surrounded by family members.
Doyle’s memorial is set for Nov. 14 at St. Isidore Catholic Church at 440 La Gonda Way in Danville at 10:30 a.m., followed by a reception at the Veterans Memorial Building at 400 Hartz Ave.
His family is requesting donations in his honor to the Danville-based Discovery Counseling Center in lieu of flowers.
