Former Santa Ana Mayor Robert Luxembourger Dies : Service: He was on the City Council during a period when the city was recovering from the effects of suburban flight.

Robert W. Luxembourger, a lifelong resident of Santa Ana who served on the City Council from 1979 to 1986, including two years as mayor, died Wednesday after a long bout with cancer.

Luxembourger, 70, a bespectacled former Sheriff’s Department administrator, was described by friends and family as a low-key, easygoing man known simply as Lux by friends and colleagues.

Luxembourger served as a planning commissioner for 2 1/2 years before joining the council as the representative of the east and central portions of the city.

He served at a time when Santa Ana was trying to recover from problems wrought by suburban flight in the 1960s and 1970s. During his tenure, the city redeveloped large portions of the community, a process that dislocated many residents and provoked strong emotions.

Luxembourger tried to fill the role of conciliator on the council, according to City Hall insiders.

“He avoided confrontation, but he worked hard,” said Vernon Evans, a former Santa Ana mayor.

Luxembourger liked to see the city’s problems firsthand rather than wait for a staff report, a style that drew criticism from some who argued that he should wait to hear from the experts.

“He would leave City Hall and check out the potholes himself. He liked spending time out in the neighborhoods,” Evans said.

Luxembourger was ousted from the City Council in the 1986 election by challenger Ron May, a Santa Ana High School teacher. One of the key issues of that campaign was high-density apartments built during Luxembourger’s term that reportedly became high-crime areas.

Luxembourger fought hard to retain his seat, said Don Sizemore, who was May’s campaign manager. But when Luxembourger lost the election at age 67, he lost gracefully, Sizemore said. The day May took office, Luxembourger handed him a license plate frame that read: Santa Ana City Councilman.

“He wanted to show there were no hard feelings. It was a great gesture, especially since Santa Ana politics can be so bitter,” Sizemore said.

Luxembourger was reared in Santa Ana. His father, John, was the first paid fire chief of the city. Before pursuing an elected office career at age 59, Luxembourger worked for 30 years at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, where he was in charge of identification and records.

As a sheriff’s deputy, he also organized the first Boy Scouts troop at the county’s Juvenile Hall in 1946. He was a member of the Santa Ana Masonic Lodge and the Peter and Paul Orange County Shrine Club.

In his farewell address as mayor, Luxembourger quoted President Harry S. Truman, saying, “I did my damnedest and that’s all there is to it.”

Luxembourger is survived by his three children: Terry, Jerry and Joan Chumley. A memorial service will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers, his family is asking that a donation be made to the American Cancer Society.