Longtime Dearborn Heights mayor Daniel Paletko dies from COVID-19 complications

The longtime mayor of Dearborn Heights, Daniel Paletko, has died from COVID-19, the city announced overnight. 

An announcement online said Paletko died suddenly late Tuesday from complications associated with COVID-19. He was 70 years old.

Paletko was appointed mayor in 2004 and then reelected in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017. He had previously served on the city council for the city.

Politics was actually his second career, as he worked for Ford Motor Company as a financial manager. 

The city did not give details about how long Paletko had been sick. 

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced. 

The community in Wayne County is mourning another prominent leader who also died this month of COVID-19. 

Wayne County sheriff Benny Napoleon died Dec. 17 at the age of 65 from the coronavirus. Napoleon had been placed on a ventilator in late November after contracting COVID-19.