As the City of Toledo noted in a statement following his death, Mayor D. Michael Collins had titles aplenty:  Marine, police officer, City Councilman, husband, father and grandfather.

Another that was listed may have arguably guided the rest:  devout Catholic.

“He was a faithful parishioner here,” said the Rev. Marty Lukas, pastor of Gesu Roman Catholic Parish on Parkside Boulevard. “You just got a sense that when he came to Mass on the weekends, that he came to pray, to worship, to build community.”

Lukas came to Gesu three years ago, where he encountered Collins regularly. The late mayor typically attended the 11:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, or the 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday, depending on his schedule. Though Collins also worshipped at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church near the Anthony Wayne Trail — which was closer to his residence — he called Gesu home.

“He always went to coffee and doughnuts (after Mass), and stayed and talked to people,” Lukas said. “You didn’t know he was the mayor, unless you knew he was the mayor. He and [his wife] Sandy had a pew they usually sat in, and sometimes he would get recruited to take up the collection. They often would tap Mike to do that, and he’d walk up the aisle just like an ordinary parishioner.”

Although he may have looked ordinary, Lukas said fellow parishioners thought it was neat having the Mayor of Toledo attend Gesu.

“I think everyone was really respectful of Mike and as to why we were all at church, as a fellow Christian and parishioner,” Lukas said. “That was his time, not as mayor, but as a parishioner.”

That didn’t mean some people didn’t try to bend his ear. However, longtime Gesu member Dennis Isabell Sr. of Ottawa Hills said Collins tried to avoid mayoral talk.

“He wanted to engage with people more as a parishioner, and not as mayor,” Isabell said. “He seemed like he was under too much stress for one guy, and he would always say, ‘It’s just part of the job.’”

Isabell said he immediately connected with Collins when they met about six years ago. The two always talked after Mass about things they had in common, including their Irish ancestry and how they had both lost a child.

“He always acted like he had time to listen to you,” Isabell said. “I really didn’t know him other than at Gesu, and he was very engaging and incredibly kind.”

Collins attended the October installation of Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas, and the two once met at Collins’ office. Lukas said the two were beginning to forge a relationship.

“I think they were both very much of the same ilk, both men that were going to be very good for Toledo and Northwest Ohio in their respective roles, and I think they resonated together,” Lukas said.

Thomas also offered a statement reflecting on Collins’ faith.

“Mayor Collins often spoke of the importance of his Catholic faith and the many ways the Lord had blessed his life,” Thomas said. “I will count among my blessings the opportunity to have come to know him, to have met his family, and to have prayed with his wife at his hospital bedside.”

Isabell believes Collins’ religion positively influenced his work as mayor, where his day-to-day public decision-making often revealed his devout faith.

“Every article you’d pick up talks about his compassion,” Isabell said. “You could just tell by the aura around him that he was a very caring and compassionate guy. He cared about people and that was very obvious. When he found out I lost a son, there was a real sense of commonality, even though I wasn’t a politician.”

The Rev. David Ritchie, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, who distributed communion to Collins at Mass the morning of his cardiac arrest, saw Collins’ religion impact his work.

“I think he probably did bring God into it a lot,” Ritchie said. “But he was not perfect, and could be feisty, but the biggest thing was how unassuming he was. He didn’t walk into church and say, ‘Hey, the mayor’s here.’ And I’ve seen politicians not do that, they walk into a room and think everything should stop. So I think the humbleness is very important.”

Gesu Parishioner Bob Savage of Toledo also noticed that Collins’ faith influenced his public life.

“I think he had great personal respect for all people, and I think that is really a reflection of his Catholic faith,” Savage said. “I always noticed his gentle manner, and you don’t always see that in public officials often.”

Savage said Collins was well-liked and respected by all.

“In leaving he would always linger in the back in the vestibule, and usually we’d have a chance to talk,” Savage said. “There’s no question he was very sincere as a person and that carried over certainly into his religious life. He enjoyed the tranquility that the sanctuary offered. He was easy to talk with, and he fit in very well with the congregation. Mike was just a great guy.”

Lukas recalled a recent story from a parishioner, who noticed Collins smiling at Mass while a baptism was taking place.

“For some reason, [this parishioner] focused on Mike,” Lukas said. “And [Collins] was just beaming. He was just so happy and so proud that there was this new member of our Catholic community. [The parishioner] said he couldn’t get that out of his mind, that [Collins] was just so into it, that this baby was baptized. I think that represents the interior of Mike’s faith life, because it was very private and yet it was very real.”

Lukas said Gesu has lost a good member of its faith community.

“He was an ordinary man, a great member of our parish family,” he said. “And we were proud of him.”

The city of Toledo’s two-day farewell to its late Mayor D. Michael Collins concluded Feb. 12 with a funeral mass at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral.

Prior to the service, a funeral procession from Coyle Funeral Home to the cathedral on Collingwood Boulevard passed many spots important to Collins for personal and professional reasons, including the former Southwyck Mall site, Heather Downs Country Club, Wixey Bakery, Walbridge Park, Toledo Zoo, the former St. James School, the future Downtown site of ProMedica headquarters and the Toledo Police Patrolman’s Association building.

Along the route, the roadways were lined with city vehicles, police and fire personnel, schoolchildren and members of the community paying their respects as the procession made its way from South Toledo to Downtown and into the Old West End.

Bishop Daniel Thomas of the Diocese of Toledo celebrated the funeral Mass.

During the homily, Thomas discussed Collins’ work ethic, which has been widely praised by those who knew him.

“I dare to say that those who worked with him in the Marines, in the police force, in city government, perhaps even in his family, knew how hard he worked and how hard he encouraged others to do the same,” Thomas said.

He referenced the slogan Collins used during his 2013 campaign for Toledo mayor, “Collins Cares,” saying that everyone could implement that in their own lives.

“Today, we make his campaign slogan a new slogan, because we can say, ‘Toledo cares.’”

Following the mass, private burial services were conducted at Toledo Memorial Park.

On Feb. 11, the University of Toledo’s John F. Savage Arena hosted the public visitation and memorial service for Collins, who died Feb. 6 at the University of Toledo Medical Center after experiencing cardiac arrest Feb. 1 while driving.

Collins’ widow, Sandy Drabik, and the rest of his family were joined by city and state officials, former colleagues of Collins with the Toledo Police Department, friends and members of the public in honoring his life of 70 years.

In the arena’s reserved seating section above the crowd, Collins’ Toledo Rockets season ticket seats were illuminated and adorned with Irish regalia in a tribute to the heritage he was so proud of.

“Look at the numbers of people who are present in this facility,” said Imam Shamsuddin Waheed, of Toledo Masjid Al-Islam, who gave the invocation at the service. “This gathering, as well as the funeral Mass to come tomorrow, is a testament to Michael Collins, not only as the mayor of Toledo, Ohio — but as a man, as a human being.”

WTOL-11 news anchor Jerry Anderson and 13abc news anchor Diane Larson served as masters of ceremony for the service.

Larson pointed out that service attendees included Evelyn Johnson and Andra Crisp, the two members of the public who helped administer CPR to Collins prior to the paramedics’ arrival to the vehicle accident. After being identified, the two received a standing ovation from the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, ours is a community that D. Michael lived for, he breathed for, he loved,” Anderson said. “And I mean, a lot. This tremendous turnout tonight shows that the feeling is mutual, Mr. Mayor.”

Nagi Naganathan, interim president of UT, was the first to give remarks during the service. He mentioned Collins teaching criminal justice classes at UT for more than a decade just a few hundred feet from the arena.

“He was passionate about education,” Naganathan said. “He truly believed that education is the solution to poverty.”

Naganathan also addressed the commitment Collins had to the city in which he was born and raised.

“He truly loved the city of Toledo and its people, and his only goal was to make the lives of people in this community better,” he said. “He didn’t want the credit, was happy to take the blame and focused only on achieving the results that benefited the citizens of Toledo. And that is the profile of a leader, someone who truly places the issues and responsibilities to his community first, at all times.”

Ron Scanlon, a retired Toledo police detective, remembered happy moments he shared with Collins, his former partner with the Toledo Police Department.

“I knew from the moment we started working investigations that Michael was something special,” he said. “His demeanor, his tenacity, and his ability to work an investigation from start to finish was always thorough and aboveboard. He was truly one of the best.”

He told of going ice fishing on Lake Erie with Collins and his late son Michael. After Collins talked Scanlon into driving his vehicle out onto the ice, they heard the ice cracking while about a mile and a half off shore.

“It just scared the blank out of me,” he said. “But Mike laughed and he told me, ‘That sound is traveling miles away. Don’t worry about it.’” The next day, several fishermen in the area had to be rescued by the Coast Guard.

Scanlon told of another time fishing with Collins in the Toledo Police Walleye Tournament when the weather took a turn for the worse; they were miles away from shore.

“Mike said, ‘Don’t worry, I know the lake. I’ll get us back to shore.’” The two ended up in Canadian waters and had to be towed to shore.

Collins was the anti-politician, Anderson said.

“He always ran with that ‘I’ behind his name,” he said. “In 2013 when Mike Collins pulled off a win that some didn’t see coming, he did so impressively. … He was to be independent, but he did so surrounded by the legion of young Toledoans who believed that, ‘Oh yeah, you will do better in Toledo.’”

Next to speak was Robert Reinbolt, Collins’ chief of staff, who said Collins’ love and respect for his family was present in everything he did.

“He was always talking about them, expressing his pride in a latest accomplishment,” Reinbolt said. “He always encouraged staff to keep their family first. … I can still hear him saying, ‘Go home, it’s getting too late to still be in the office. Work will still be there in the morning.”

Although conversations with Collins were rarely short, Reinbolt said he enjoyed them.

“His desire to make Toledo a better place was contagious and made all of us better staff members,” he said.

Reinbolt said the challenges faced during Collins’ first year on the job — the death of two firefighters, the record-breaking snowfall and cold temperatures of the winter and the August water crisis caused by algae toxins in Lake Erie, among them — did not deter Collins.

“Most people would be very frustrated faced with all these challenges,” Reinbolt said. “But not Mayor Collins. It challenged him to make him stronger and more determined and work harder to accomplish the goals outlined in his campaign commitments and make Toledo a better place to live.”

Matt Sapara, director of development for the city, was the last to speak during the remarks section of the service.

Sapara said one of Collins’ management philosophies was to let managers run their respective divisions.

“He had enough respect in our collective abilities to let us manage our teams to ensure that if the unthinkable happened, an unplanned change in leadership for example, there would be a seamless transition and would not impact the services the citizens of Toledo expect and deserve,” he said.

Sapara said one of Collins’ legacies will be solidifying the future of Downtown Toledo by landing the ProMedica deal approved last month by City Council.

“Certainly ProMedica should get the lion’s share of credit for demonstrating its leadership to the community, but it was the mayor who shaped the deal,” he said. “The mayor firmly believed that the key to a successful region is a strong and vibrant Downtown. This will be one of his legacies.”

Sapara also said the ProMedica deal will help cement Collins’ place in the city’s history books.

“History will show that Mayor Collins was the catalyst for the city of Toledo’s renaissance,” he said.

Collins’ successor, Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson, spoke before presenting the City of Toledo flag to Drabik.

“We come to this place collectively to pay our respects to a man who willingly and eagerly went anywhere and everywhere, to talk with anyone, about anything, always, always, striving for the betterment of this great city,” she said.

After Toledo Chief of Police George Kral read the record of Collins’ accomplishments, a video presentation of Collins’ life was shown, followed by a performance of “Amazing Grace” by Toledo Fire & Rescue Department’s Pipes and Drum Corps.

Benediction was then read by Monsignor Christopher Vasko, of The Historic Church of St. Patrick.

Collins was hospitalized in critical condition for five days after suffering cardiac arrest Feb. 1 while driving in South Toledo. He was taken off life support and died at 1:25 p.m. Feb. 6.

Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins assigned a lot of group work when he taught at the University of Toledo, former student Amy Tracy recalls.

Although group work doesn’t tend to be particularly popular among college students, Tracy, now a director in corrections, said it helped prepare her for her future career in criminal justice.

“Everybody kind of hated it,” she said. “But I give him a lot of credit for preparing me for a job like this because I deal with several different courts, several different agencies. … When you think about it, it’s teamwork.”

Tracy said the things Collins taught have stayed with her long past the classroom. One thing he stressed was that those in the criminal justice system are people too, she said.

“How I treat people as a whole has a lot to do with him,” she said. “[The group projects] alone helped me to prepare to deal with people. He prepared me for crisis situations and how to keep my head clear.”

Robert Fitzgerald, another former UT student, agreed that Collins prepared students for their future careers, not just the final exam.

“He was very engaging and kept your interest,” said Fitzgerald, who works as a security guard at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. “He wanted me to further my career in law enforcement and tried to guide me through certain aspects. … He wanted to make sure [students] stayed interested no matter what their major was.”

Collins would often share real-life stories, former student Heather Heiland recalled. “It made me relate more to what he was teaching,” she said.

Collins also used humor in the classroom. “He always had jokes; he always made me laugh,” she said.

Heiland had Collins for a juvenile justice class, which she went on to pursue as a career. She said he was easy to relate to and talk to and was one of her favorite teachers ever. “He took the time to talk to you,” she said.

Collins was a visiting assistant professor at UT from 1999 to 2011. He also worked as an adjunct instructor at Lourdes University from 2010-12.

“I really liked him,” said Dale Lanigan, chair of Lourdes’ Department of Sociology and Justice Studies. “He was always very straightforward, honest and loved to talk public policy. He didn’t just express his views. He always wanted to explain why he thought as he did, bringing up history and data to support his positions.”

Collins also taught at St. Francis de Sales High School from 1976-83 and 1984-86.

Tracy hopes people remember him for his passion for people.

“A big part of my success in the criminal justice system is because of him,” she said. “I will be forever thankful to him for that.”

During his time as media relations manager for D. Michael Collins’ 2009 and 2013 mayoral campaigns, Matt Zaleski once made the mistake of calling Collins a “former Marine.”

“One thing that Mike was very proud of was his service as a Marine,” Zaleski said. “He made the point to [tell me], ‘There is no such thing as a former Marine.’”

Last week, while visiting Collins in the hospital, Zaleski took his mentor by the hand and whispered in his ear: “Get well, Marine. You’ve got work to do.”

“It was a very emotional moment for me,” Zaleski said.

Zaleski met Collins in the 1970s, when Collins taught criminal justice at St. Francis de Sales High School, where Zaleski was a student.

Collins also previously taught at the University of Toledo and Lourdes University. As an educator, Collins would bring humor to the classroom.

“He actually did have a sense of humor and it came out in certain environments,” Zaleski said.

Zaleski said Collins taught his St. Francis students how to avoid being victims of crime, something Zaleski has carried with him for 40 years.

Zaleski looked to Collins as an inspiration throughout his adult life. The two met up to play racquetball and golf a few times and Collins even attended Zaleski’s wedding.

“He was a mentor and was looking out for me, I could tell,” Zaleski said. “Now I just hope he looks out for me from above.”

As a politician, Zaleski said Collins never stopped.

“He was always going,” Zaleski said. “He once told me, ‘I may not be the smartest guy in the room, but I’m going to be the hardest working in the room.’ That’s the way he was.”

Zaleski said Collins loved going door to door and talking to people.

“Mike was a guy who loved to get out and meet people,” Zaleski said. “He was 69 years old when he was running and he would outwork the 20-year-old volunteers.”

Zaleski said he last spoke to Collins on Jan. 29 and the two talked about whether or not he would run for mayor again. The two were making plans to work together in the future.

Zaleski said he hopes people remember Collins for his leadership.

“He had almost a watchdog mentality,” Zaleski said. “Don’t forget that this man spent 26 years as a police officer … kicking in doors and doing some of the most dangerous jobs.”