Michael Balkman; Former Mayor of Culver City Backed Redevelopment

Michael Balkman, a former Culver City mayor and city councilman who helped spur local redevelopment, died suddenly Tuesday of undetermined causes. He was 47.

He was found dead on the floor of his office at Sid Balkman Electrical Contractors, the Culver City business founded by his father, and was pronounced dead at Brotman Medical Center.

The cause of death is under investigation, but his family and friends suspect that he succumbed to a brain aneurysm that was diagnosed more than 10 years ago. At the time Balkman decided to forgo surgery, not wishing to risk leaving his two young children without a father, according to Geoff Maleman, a family friend.

His body was found by his wife, Flor, who survives him, along with a son, Sean, 22, and a daughter, Candice, 18.

Balkman was elected to the council in 1990 and served for eight years until term limits forced him from office. His colleagues elected him vice mayor in 1992 and mayor in 1993.

He played a role in several initiatives to improve Culver City, including building a new City Hall, adding medians and street furniture to Sepulveda and East Washington boulevards, and turning the Ivy Substation, which supplied power to the old Red Car line, into a community performance hall.

Considered pro-growth and pro-business, he said he believed in “balanced renewal,” once trying to reassure critics with his definition of growth. “[It] means that you’ve got land and can expand on it,” he said during his 1990 election campaign. “We don’t have a lot of that in Culver City.”

Last year he helped to defeat an anti-growth initiative on the city ballot.

He and his wife led a $500,000 capital campaign to renovate the track at Culver City High School after their son fell and injured his ankle there several years ago. The project was recently completed, using private donations as well as government grants.

“To him, the most important asset the city had was our youth. He worked continually for kids,” said Steven Rose, president of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce.

“His No. 1 accomplishment was being the best father possible. He lived for his kids,” Rose added. “That was a love affair I couldn’t believe.”

Balkman, who was born in Los Angeles and graduated from Culver City High, majored in business at Pierce College and Cal State Northridge and was trained as an electrician.

In addition to his wife and children, his survivors include a sister, Susan, and his stepmother, Joyce Balkman-Waggner. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City.