Ravitz, Mel, 1929-1997.

Mel Ravitz served as a Detroit City Councilman for 28 years, between 1962-1997.

Born in New York on Jan. 7, 1924, Mel Ravitz was first elected councilman for the City of Detroit in 1962. He served on the Detroit Common (later City) Council for twenty-eight years, retiring at the end of his seventh term in 1997. In 1949, Ravitz was the first news director for WDET Radio. Later that year he was hired to teach sociology at Wayne (State) University, where he remained until 1987. While teaching at WSU, Ravitz also worked for Detroit's City Planning Commission from 1953 to 1960, organizing some of the first block clubs in the city. He was elected City Council President in 1969. Ravitz helped found the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments in 1968, and has chaired and served on numerous mental health boards and community organizations. He served as chairman of the Coordinating Committee on Crime Control.