David Hollister, whose leadership as mayor of Lansing from 1994 to 2003 helped prevent General Motors from leaving mid-Michigan and also inspired what is now downtown’s Stadium District, died yesterday. He was 84.
Hollister rose from being a social studies teacher at Eastern High School to a state legislator before being elected to three terms as mayor.
A Democrat, he resigned in 2003 to become head of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Lansing’s Save GM campaign under Hollister united civic leaders in a successful effort to convince GM from closing operations in Lansing. At the time, it had some 20,000 employees and three factories.
Hollister’s vision for Michigan Avenue resulted in the minor league baseball stadium on Michigan Avenue that was constructed while he was mayor.
Politically, Hollister was a liberal who went to Mississippi to fight for civil rights after hearing a 1965 speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at Michigan State University while a student.
The city honored Hollister in 2017 by renaming City Hall after him.