Flint, MI — Friends and family gathered on the city’s north side Saturday as they mourned the loss of longtime resident and Flint City Councilman, Eric Mays.
“We appreciate the love from the city,” said Kevin Mays, Eric Mays’ nephew. He and a handful of other mourners gathered near Eric Mays’ home on the north side of Flint on Saturday night. “We know what the city meant to him, so you can only imagine what he meant to us,” Kevin Mays said. “Everything he stood for leaves a legacy for our family, leaves great steps for us to follow in. However you felt about him, what he fought for was the people and how he felt about this community. He stood on that. He stood behind it. And we can’t do anything but continue that fight.”
According to reports, Mays, who was a third-term councilman, died on Feb. 24, 2024. He was 65.
The flag at Flint City Hall is set to be lowered to half-staff in his honor, beginning Monday, Feb. 26, 2024.
Eric Mays and other local leaders held a press conference on Aug. 21, 2020, to discuss the proposed settlement for the Flint Water Crisis. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat) 
Flint City Council Member Eric Mays during the interview process for the selection of a permanent city clerk during a special City Council meeting at the Flint City Hall Council Chambers on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Michael Indriolo | Flint Beat) 
City Councilman Eric Mays watches the Juneteenth motorcade pass by in downtown Flint, Mich. on June 19, 2022. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat) 
Flint City Councilman Eric Mays kneels and prays during a moment of silence for all affected by the Flint Water Crisis. (Santiago Ochoa | Flint Beat) 
First Ward City Councilman Eric Mays speaks at the Traditional Juneteenth Celebration at Max Brandon Park in Flint, Mich. on June 19, 2021. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat) 
Eric Mays, Councilman of Flint’s Ward 1, kneels and bows his head in prayer as he holds the hand of another attendee praying at the 20th Annual Unity March on June 26, 2021. (Khue Tran | Flint Beat) 
Eric Mays at Tim Johnsons Press Release Eric Mays attends former Flint Police Chief and Genesee County Sheriff Candidate Tim Johnsons press release the morning of Friday, July 17th, 2020 to discuss rising crime statistics in the City of Flint. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat.) Eric Mays attends former Flint Police Chief and Genesee County Sheriff Candidate Tim Johnsons press release the morning of Friday, July 17th, 2020 to discuss rising crime statistics in the City of Flint. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat.) 
Eric Mays at Tim Johnsons Press Release Eric Mays attends former Flint Police Chief and Genesee County Sheriff Candidate Tim Johnsons press release the morning of Friday, July 17th, 2020 to discuss rising crime statistics in the City of Flint. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat.) Eric Mays attends former Flint Police Chief and Genesee County Sheriff Candidate Tim Johnsons press release the morning of Friday, July 17th, 2020 to discuss rising crime statistics in the City of Flint. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat.) 
Flint City Councilman Eric Mays addresses Eddie Smith, the human resources director for the city of Flint, Mich., regarding the appointment of a new city clerk during Flint City Council’s Special Affairs Committee meeting at Flint City Hall on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. (Michael Indriolo | Flint Beat) Credit: Katie Kanazawich 
Flint City Councilman Eric Mays speaks at an investigative hearing regarding the bid process for the trash collection contract at the City Council Chambers in City Hall on Sept. 9, 2021. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat) Credit: Katie Kanazawich 
Water Warrior Clara McClinton and First Ward City Councilman Eric Mays chat during the 8th anniversary of the Flint Water Crisis event on April 25, 2022, at Kearsley Park. The event was held to raise awareness that the water crisis continues. (KT Kanazawich | Flint Beat) 
Flint City Councilman Eric Mays speaks with Davina Donahue, the interim clerk for the City of Flint, Mich., during Flint City Council’s Special Affairs Committee meeting at Flint City Hall on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. (Michael Indriolo | Flint Beat)
Flint City Council members Tonya Burns and Jerri Winfrey-Carter waited behind police tape on Mays’ street Saturday night. They talked with Mays’ friends and family while answering nonstop phone calls until Sunday’s early morning hours.
“He touched the whole world,” Burns said. “I’m gonna miss my friend.”
Winfrey-Carter said she admired Mays’ commitment to his ward’s residents, and she expressed frustration at how some of her fellow City Council members had recently voted to suspend Mays for 90 days. Mays spent the last months of his life fighting to get back in his seat, she said.
“They disenfranchised a whole ward,” Winfrey-Carter said. “That’s not our call.”
Regardless, Mays’ passion for his community garnered massive support on social media as clips of him at city meetings went viral in 2023. Kevin Mays said he was grateful that his uncle got to see how much “his voice was appreciated.”
“Where we are right now, my family grew up here,” Kevin Mays said, pointing to the neighborhood behind him. “This is our grandmother’s home. We were raised here. It’s often tough for people to kind of humanize times like this when you’re dealing with somebody with such a massive spirit, but man, this is a tough time for us. Again, we appreciate everybody. We’re definitely going to do everything that we can do to keep his legacy alive and to continue to push forward for our family.”
Mays was a 1976 graduate of Flint Northern High School, received a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, and served in several positions with the UAW.
Former classmate and fellow politician, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, extended his condolences to Mays’ family.
“I’m saddened by the death of my friend Eric Mays,” wrote Kildee in a Feb. 25, 2024 statement. “Councilman Mays loved serving Flint on the City Council, and his constituents continuously re-elected him because of his bold and unwavering voice.”
Mays’ attorneys said they will continue to fight for his constituents.
“We are heartbroken by the sudden, tragic death of our client, Councilman Eric Mays…Councilman Mays was a man devoted to public service,” wrote Lento Law Group, the legal firm that represented Mays in a number of lawsuits. “His unrelenting advocacy on behalf of his constituents gave them a voice in a government body that often seemed interested in silencing voices that did not agree with the majority.
We will continue to fight for those constituents and the City of Flint in Councilman Mays’ name and memory, including against those individuals whose gracious statements concerning his passing stand in stark contrast to the actions they took against him while he was a public servant. Rest in peace, Councilman Mays.”
Fuck him he didnt defend anyone except his own agenda. That wasnt helping flint. He was a blight who stopped any proceedings from the council, belligerent and obnoxious. Dont come at me for speaking ill of the dead Id say this to his face if he were around to hear it.
@Scout FOX, you are a coward! You should respect his family and his legacy.
Definitely yes David Warner, I concur.
However, Eric Mays is EVERYTHING, that MORON Scout Fox- wishes he could have been.
He has no respect for himself- just a pitiful entity.
Wow ….low down dogs I’ve got a fix his deceased but I wish you didn’t do that when he was a liar so what about now seem like to me you show me on the better side of your car on this and I pray that you do not run Office to the above ASL go down Cal
We shouldn’t have been able to take any stand we was Eric Mays keep his stand for the people we can tell you never done a thing
We shouldn’t have been able to take any stand we was Eric Mays keep his stand for the people we can tell you never done a thing you want some attention you low down dogs
We shouldn’t have been able to take any stand we was Eric Mays keep his stand for the people we can tell you never done a thing you want some attention you low down dogs
Sometimes in life you have to put your foot down to help your people, you have people on that council didn’t and don’t give a rat’s ass about the people. All the money that was supposed to go to the residents never reached them. But it sure in the hell did reach other areas.
I agree with you Roderick!
Being over here on the West Coast San Francisco to Seattle WA I’ve been seeing and hearing even on social media some of our so-called black communities have even been effected by some of our black leaders and their looking real childish with bad attitudes and not taking responsibility or accountability plus showing your as with no consequences showing the younger generation false leadership. Were seeing the BS closer to home more clearer. All kinds of bulling ways seen in its purest form,we heard about before but THANK YOU SOCIAL MEDIA ?✅ WHERE’S THE LIE NOW FOLKS
Are we sure he died of “Natural” causes?
You are absolutely MENTALLY RETARDED & a ?!?
He was a PHENOMENAL, EDUCATED Councilman- COMPASSIONATE Human Being w/ INTEGRITY. He cared deeply & STOOD UP, in addressing issues concerning the citizens of Flint.
If he were still around- trust me… you would NOT have gotten in his face- U/POS!
Did Eric Mays attend Longfellow Junior High School, wondering if anyone knows. I see he graduated from Northern. I went to both of those schools and he is the same age as me so I may have known him and didn’t realize it.