West Vancouver residents are mourning the loss of one of their city councillors.

Michael Lewis died this morning after a short battle with lung cancer.

“Today is a very sad day for everyone who knew and worked with Michael, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family now,” Mayor Michael Smith said in a statement. “Michael made many thoughtful contributions to important policy and project decisions on Council and his voice will be missed. He cared deeply about West Vancouver and in addition to being a fine Councillor, served his community well in many other ways."

A service will be held next Monday (August 15) from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m at Gleneagles Golf Course Clubhouse (6190 Marine Drive) in West Vancouver.

Lewis, a consultant and semiretired telecom executive, was in his third term on council.

As a politician, he took a keen interest in municipal finances and served two terms on the District of West Vancouver finance committee.

In the 2014 election campaign, he pointed out that the $2,118 annual spending per person in the district was 53 perent higher than the MetroVancouver average.

"Let me repeat what I have said before," he said during the campaign. "This is not a municipality. It's a cruise ship. One employee for every 50 residents and operating expenditure growth of 47 percent from 2004 to 2013 is not sustainable in a municipality where population growth in the same period was less than one percent."

Lewis also served as president of the Autism Society of B.C., the Autism Society of Canada, and the B.C. Boys Choir.