BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Friends, colleagues, and students remembered the life of a Bowling Green council member and professor Wednesday.
WTOL 11 reported Tuesday night that Dr. Neocles Leontis was killed in a crash.
Leontis was elected as a Bowling Green City Council member last November and took office in January.
Mayor Mike Aspacher said Leontis left a lasting impact on him and other council members during the year he sat on the council.
"He was relentlessly in pursuit of knowledge, relentlessly in pursuit of identifying opportunities for improvement in the Bowling Green community," Aspacher said.
Leontis served as a Bowling Green State University faculty member since 1987 at the College of Arts and Sciences. He was highly regarded as an educator and researcher.
But for the students who interacted with him, they said it was obvious he had a passion for the younger generation.
"Listening to students who had serious concerns about housing, ways BG could be more green, and things like that," BGSU journalism senior Brionna Scebbi said.
BGSU President Rodney Rogers said Leontis helped secure about $7 million in grant funding for the university during his tenure and was a champion of environmental sustainability.
"In many ways, he was all about making this community, Bowling Green State University, the City of Bowling Green, Wood County, and Northwest Ohio a better place," Rogers said.
Rogers wanted to make sure that everyone knew that the BGSU Counseling Center is available for any students, staff, to faculty who need to talk with someone about Leontis' death.
BGSU staff posted online that condolences to his family can be sent to sympathy@bgsu.edu, and they will forward them.