Michigan voters elected incumbent Laurence Deitch and Denise Ilitch, both Democrats, to serve eight-year terms on the Board of Regents.
Out of 8,306,389 votes cast statewide, Ilitch received 29 percent of the vote and Deitch garnered 25.5 percent. Kalamazoo Republican Susan Brown finished third of nine candidates with 21 percent of the vote.
Deitch has served on the Board of Regents since 1992. He attended U-M, where in 1969 he earned a Bachelor of Arts in history followed in 1972 by a Juris Doctorate from the Law School. A partner in Bodman, LLP, in Detroit, he has practiced law in metro Detroit for more than 30 years.
During an Oct. 27 candidate’s forum, Deitch said his experience would help to maintain excellence at U-M in a time of potentially shrinking resources. “As it has been for the last 16 years,” he said in a statement provided to the Record, “my goal would be to keep the University of Michigan very great, and open, accessible and egalitarian.”
Ilitch replaces Democrat Rebecca McGowan, who did not seek re-election. Ilitch, a U-M alumna who earned her law degree from University of Detroit School of Law, is “Of Counsel” at Clark Hill PLC where she advises clients in business practice, corporate law and government policy. Prior to that she was the president of Ilitch Holdings Inc., a privately held business that manages such entities as Little Caesar Enterprises, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers and Olympia Entertainment.
At the forum, Ilitch said she would seek more money for U-M at the state and federal levels. “I am creative and have an ability to work with others of diverse interests,” she said.
